My uncle is a prominent lawyer in international business law, based in Germany but he has been in american courts often. I will have a chat with him and after explaining him the concept of bitcoin, he might be able to give a qualified answer on how the chances are of getting the coins back, if there even is a chance...
Don't talk to him about recovering bitcoin, as if bitcoin was a currency.
You would probably get more traction if you talked about the real money value that was lent, and that it was transferred to pirate through bitcoin.
Bitcoin as the currency will get it treated like Second Life Lindens or World of Warcraft gold (or whatever they use)
Bitcoin as the transport medium, will get it treated more like paypal or other electronic funds transfers, so, IMHO, best course is not to bring in bitcoin if you can help it, and just bring in the actual paper value itself.
-- Smoov