It starts when bankruptcy is filed. Ofc, if I lend $100m to a company that you control, and you start siphoning that money into your bank account...then you ar

It starts when bankruptcy is filed. Ofc, if I lend $100m to a company that you control, and you start siphoning that money into your bank account...then you aren't going to declare bankruptcy until the stealing is finished. So there are provisions to claw back money even ex-post (i.e. time doesn't matter) when someone has committed a crime...but the idea is that bankruptcies are wrapped up quickly because the longer it goes on the more value is lost by everyone (apart from lawyers)...speedy liquidation is also a central component of a well-functioning capitalist economy.