Dr. Anna Bradshaw (née Odby)
Anna advises individuals and corporates on all aspects of financial crime and sanctions risk, compliance and enforcement.
Anna is ranked by Chambers UK 2025 as Band 1 for Sanctions as a “financial crime and sanctions expert” and Band 2 for POCA Work & Asset Forfeiture, as having “an excellent reputation in the POCA space” and being “a well-known expert in anti-money laundering”.
Anna is described by Legal 500 2025 as "outstanding" and "highly skilled at running complex cases", including those that involve financial crime or that overlap with sanctions violations. She is praised for her ability to traverse sanctions and export controls, combined with her expertise in financial crime and experience on cross-border matters.
She is one of six lawyers ranked as a ‘Global Elite Thought Leaders’ by Lexology (formerly Who’s Who Legal) for their work on Trade & Customs – International Sanctions, a ranking she has maintained since the inception of this category. She is also recommended for her work in Business Crime Defence (since 2021), and Investigations (since 2022).
Anna is an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), assisting the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies (CFCS) with its research on US, EU and UK sanctions. She is a founder of the Sanctions Practitioners Group (SPG), a member of the European Criminal Bar Association (ECBA) working group on sanctions and sits on the committee of the Fraud Lawyers Association (FLA). She has given evidence in Parliament on a number of EU criminal law and criminal justice cooperation matters in her former capacity as a member of the Law Society’s EU Committee.
Anna co-edits The Guide to Sanctions, published by the Global Investigations Review (currently in its fifth edition) and co-writes the chapter on 'Representing Designated Persons: A UK Lawyer’s Perspective' with Alistair Jones. She is a sought-after speaker on sanctions and financial crime topics.
She holds a doctorate in anti-money laundering regulation.
Case examples
Sanctions – noncontentious
Provides expert evidence on UK sanctions law in support of legal proceedings including in Targa Capital Limited v Westpac New Zealand Ltd [2023] NZHC 230 (New Zealand).
Advises on notifications under the National Security and Investment Act 2021.
Advises on and assists with the submission of financial sanctions and trade sanctions licence applications and related compliance advice including the design and implementation of internal policies and procedures.
Sanctions – contentious
Represents and advises on investment treaty arbitration relating to sanctions.
Represents applicants in sanctions designations challenges securing removals in the UK, EU, Australia and Canada including in in Sabra v Council (Case T-249/20).
Represents claimant in civil proceedings seeking the return of misappropriated frozen assets.
Represents interested parties in applications for seizure of frozen assets in proceedings worldwide.
Successfully resisted cash and listed items forfeiture applications based on suspected sanctions breaches.
Conducts internal investigations and represents subjects of external investigations into suspected financial and trade sanctions and export control breaches and related money laundering offences, including compliance with reporting obligations.
Successfully secured ‘no action’ outcomes in voluntary self-disclosures of sanctions and export control violations.
Financial crime
Advises and represents entities in connection with internal and external investigations into suspected financial crime and related regulatory breaches worldwide.
Advises on the enforcement of overseas freezing orders and related mutual legal assistance requests in support of overseas financial crime investigations and prosecutions.
Represented applicants in multiple successful challenges to account freezing orders brought by HMRC and the NCA.
Represented individuals and entities in investigations disposed of by deferred prosecution agreements and offender assistance agreements.
Represents high-profile individuals and corporates challenging bank account freezes and closures.
Advises on the exercise of data subject rights under data protection law in relation to criminal offence data.
Related expertise
- Account Freezing & Forfeiture & Cash Detention
- Bank Account Freezing
- Bribery & Corruption
- Business Ethics, Human Rights & Product/Service Risk
- Compliance
- Criminal Cartels
- Criminal Fraud
- Criminal Restraint & Confiscation
- Cybercrime & Data Theft
- Dawn Raids
- Employee Fraud
- Extradition
- INTERPOL Red Notices
- Internal Investigations
- Money Laundering
- Mutual Legal Assistance
- Sanctions & Export Controls
- Serious & General Crime
- Tax Prosecutions
- Unexplained Wealth Orders