Earlier this month, the High Court dismissed the claim that environmental charity ClientEarth had brought against the directors of Shell. The claim had been touted as a “world-first lawsuit” and was backed by institutional investors. It alleged that Shell’s directors had not adopted and implemented an energy-transition strategy aligned with the Paris Agreement, in breach […]
Established 35 years ago in the case of Quincecare v Barclays Bank, the Quincecare duty requires, in short, that banks and other financial institutions refrain from executing their customers’ orders if they are put on notice that those orders are part of a fraud on the customers. Since then, the Quincecare duty mostly spent its […]
Senior Partner Michael O’Kane and Maya Lester KC, of Brick Court Chambers, hosted a discussion on present and potential future sanctions on China on 2 May 2023. They examined the political context in which sanctions have been imposed on China, and in what context additional restrictions may be imposed in the future. The discussion covered what […]
According to recent research by financial claims management company Refundee, scams involving cryptocurrency are on the rise. Charlotte Tregunna spoke to City A.M. about the rise in crypto fraud, commenting that this was “inevitable”, since scams are prevalent in traditional finance. The types of scams invented by scammers are also increasingly imaginative, with new and […]
The alleged breaches by Manchester City FC of many Premier League Rules have attracted a lot of commentary in recent months and resulted in calls for a new examination of what the principle of ‘good faith’ engagement with the Premier League really means for football clubs, as well as the obligation to co-operate with, and […]
Last week, the Home Office tabled an amendment to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, setting out a failure to prevent fraud offence. According to the Home Office, this new offence is meant to “make it easier to prosecute a large organisation if an employee commits fraud for the organisation’s benefit” and “allow prosecutors […]
A few weeks ago, Eugene Shvidler, a billionaire who has been associated with Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, launched the first legal challenge to reach the London courts to the UK’s Russian sanctions regime. Shvidler is arguing that the Foreign Office made “significant errors” in deciding to freeze his assets. He also challenges that he is […]
In February, three French NGOs, Friends of the Earth France, Notre Affaire à Tous and Oxfam France, launched proceedings in France against BNP Paribas, Europe’s largest bank, in connection with its financing of fossil fuel polluters and thus failing to comply with its obligations under the French corporate duty of vigilance law, which came into […]
Traditionally, in England and Wales, a firm could be found guilty of some economic crimes only if its “directing mind and will” had been involved in the offense. This is the so-called identification doctrine. However, amendments to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill are currently making their way through Parliament could change this. In […]
Last month, HM Treasury released a report on cryptoassets, in which it proposed a new, comprehensive regulatory regime. In this article for Business Reporter, Neil Swift, James Tyler and Michal Chajdukowski review the government’s plans to regulate the crypto sector. They discuss the timings of, and background to, the proposals, what key protections the new […]
