On 14 March 2023, Mr Justice Jay handed down judgment in LLC Synesis v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs [2023] EWHC 541 (Admin). The case is the first to come before the UK courts under the Court Review provision under section 38 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA). […]
Fraud, bribery and corruption (FBC) in sport are nothing new. INTERPOL notes that criminal offences in sport “are a way for organized syndicates to generate high profits and launder their illegal proceeds, with limited risk of detection”. In recent times, the spotlight has been on sports with circular balls, with a host of scandals rocking […]
In the Spring of 2020, Eleanor Williams, a young girl from Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria, published pictures on social media of her alleged injuries, claiming she had been the victim of an Asian grooming gang. The allegations sent shockwaves through her community, even leading to social unrest and incidents of hate crime. However, Police investigations showed […]
Peters & Peters lawyers were at the eye of the storm yesterday assisting former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in his appearance for questioning at the UK Parliament’s Privileges Committee which is investigating allegations that he misled Parliament over the so-called “Partygate” events at 10 Downing Street during Covid lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. Peters & […]
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 […]
The role that whistleblowers play in uncovering wrongdoing and misconduct in the public and private sectors has long been recognised as being essential. As such, is there anything else that could be done to protect and encourage anyone who is considering speaking out? In this article for FT Adviser, Neil Swift discusses what protections are […]
The Quincecare duty, which requires financial institutions not to execute customers’ orders if they have been made aware that these are part of a fraud, has gained prominence recently as upcoming legal challenges threaten to increase banks’ responsibilities in the context of increasingly sophisticated fraud. In this article for The Banker, Paul Johnson and David […]
Every year, without fail, the government promises to get tough on financial crime. This time round, the latest proposal involves extending the “failure to prevent” model to make firms criminally liable for failing to prevent economic crimes beyond bribery and tax evasion unless they have adequate procedures in place. The model was first introduced by […]
The monthly insolvency statistics for October 2022 (published by the Insolvency Service in November) show that corporate insolvencies have risen 38% from the same month in the previous year and are 32% higher than pre-pandemic. Insolvency practitioners, lawyers and advisers are therefore gearing up for further rises in insolvencies as the economic climate is expected […]
