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Corporate Crime & Compliance UK
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June 12, 2024
Eurojust Dismantles €113M Fraudulent Investment Scheme
Police have taken down a €113 million ($122.2 million) pyramid fraud scheme based around crypto mining in an operation spanning several European countries, the Eurojust European law enforcement agency said on Wednesday.
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June 12, 2024
BHS Ruling A 'Coup For Liquidators' Over Director Duties
A landmark ruling that found two directors liable for the collapse of a U.K. retailer and ordered them to repay a chunk of the losses highlights the limited reliance that directors can place on professional advice and a lack of experience to avoid responsibility.
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June 12, 2024
Investors To Sue Betting Giant For £100M Over Bribery Probe
Entain PLC, the owner of gambling businesses Ladbrokes and Coral, is set to face a £100 million ($128 million) legal battle from institutional investors who say Entain did not warn them about a prosecution over its alleged failure to prevent bribery in Turkey.
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June 12, 2024
Automakers Safe From French Law In 'Dieselgate' Disclosure
Vehicle manufacturers including Renault and Peugeot Citroen that face thousands of "dieselgate" claims for allegedly cheating car emission tests are not at any risk of criminal prosecution in France while disclosing evidence before trial in England, a London court has ruled.
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June 12, 2024
Fuel Trader Says £5M Payments Were For Market Advice
A former fuel trader insisted at his fraud trial in London on Wednesday that he received £5.2 million ($6.6 million) in payments for providing consultancy advice on "betting on the right horse" rather than in secret commissions.
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June 11, 2024
PC Gaming Giant Valve Faces £656M Action For Overcharging
Valve Corp., owner of the world's largest video game distribution platform, Steam, has been hit with a proposed £656 million ($836 million) class action for allegedly overcharging 14 million PC gamers in the U.K., the digital rights campaigner filing the claim announced Wednesday.
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June 11, 2024
UniCredit Overturns $69M Plane Payment Sanctions Ruling
UniCredit was entitled to withhold $69.3 million in payments to lessors for Russian planes because of sanctions, a London appellate court ruled Tuesday, partly overturning findings that it was not reasonable for the bank's U.K. branch to believe it could not make the payments.
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June 11, 2024
KC Advised Post Office To Remove Judge From Horizon Trial
A top barrister advised the Post Office to get a High Court judge to recuse himself from a trial dealing with wrongly prosecuted subpostmasters or else risk losing all litigation brought by the subpostmasters, the barrister recalled in an inquiry hearing Tuesday regarding the scandal.
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June 11, 2024
Tories Pledge To Tackle Court Backlog, Carry On Rwanda Plan
The Conservative Party announced a slew of justice plans on Tuesday to cut the criminal court backlog, support third-party litigation funding and abandon international human rights commitments, if necessary, to pursue its Rwanda migrants policy.
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June 11, 2024
Serco Denies Directors Knew Of Fraud In Securities Trial
Serco Group PLC denied investors are entitled to compensation over a fraud that caused the outsourcing giant's share price to nosedive, arguing on the second day of a London trial Tuesday that none of its directors had known about the alleged wrongdoing.
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June 11, 2024
Widow Who Signed Docs 'Without Reading' Still Owes $64M
A London appellate court has ruled that a former Hong Kong resident can't escape a personal guarantee to pay 500 million Hong Kong dollars ($64 million) to cover bonds issued by her husband's company, in part because she entered the contract for business purposes.
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June 11, 2024
FCA Eyes Consumer Impact Of New Legal Cooperation Rules
The Financial Conduct Authority has set out how it is working with the Financial Ombudsman Service and other bodies under a new duty of legal cooperation required by the Consumer Duty and changing payments regulations.
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June 11, 2024
LC&F Administrators Attack Ex-Boss' Credibility In Ponzi Case
The administrators of London Capital & Finance PLC have criticized the company's former head as a "thoroughly unreliable witness" as they closed their case that he and others operated the business as a £237 million ($302 million) Ponzi scheme.
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June 11, 2024
BHS Directors To Pay Liquidators £18M For Wrongful Trading
A London judge ordered two former directors of failed retail chain BHS on Tuesday to pay liquidators at least £18 million ($23 million) after finding that they knew that the company was beyond rescue when it was purchased in 2015.
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June 10, 2024
23andMe Faces UK-Canadian Probe Into Data Breach
The U.K. and Canada said Monday that they are jointly investigating a data breach at genetic testing company 23andMe, which allowed hackers to access data from 6.9 million users.
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June 10, 2024
Man Gets 1 Year For Manslaughter Of Ex-Boss In 2006 Attack
An Albanian man was sentenced to a year in prison Monday for killing his former boss, after the Crown Prosecution Service linked the victim's life-altering head injuries from an attack nearly two decades ago to his death in 2017.
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June 10, 2024
Starmer Could Crack Judicial Crisis, Former CPS Chiefs Say
Keir Starmer's lead in the polls as the general election in July approaches has sparked hopes among criminal justice advocates that the Labour leader — a former top prosecutor — will implement reforms as prime minister.
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June 10, 2024
Serco Accused Of Playing Around With Books As Trial Opens
Institutional investors told a London court Monday that Serco had "played around" with its financial reporting to keeping the government from clocking fraud in its contract for electronic tagging services as a landmark securities trial kicked off.
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June 10, 2024
European Financial Body Calls On UK To Clarify AML Reforms
A European body representing financial market participants has called on HM Treasury to provide more clarity in the Money Laundering Regulations through planned amendments, including by specifying the exact point when a firm must check a potential customer's background.
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June 10, 2024
Amazon Sold Facial Tech To Russia, Ex-Employee Alleges
A former Amazon worker has alleged that the technology giant sold facial recognition software to a Russian company in violation of U.K. sanctions.
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June 07, 2024
Feds Charge UK Trio Over $2M 'Evolved Apes' NFT Scheme
Three United Kingdom residents face criminal wire fraud and money laundering charges brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan alleging they misappropriated cryptocurrency worth roughly $2 million as part of a "rug pull scheme" involving the digital assets known as non-fungible tokens.
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June 07, 2024
Merchants Get OK For Visa, Mastercard Fees Suit On 2nd Try
A group of merchants got a tentative go-ahead Friday to bring a collective action accusing Visa and Mastercard of unfairly imposing interchange fees on retailers after revising weaknesses in the initial proposal at the U.K.'s specialist antitrust court.
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June 07, 2024
Crypto Developers Fight To Gag Wright After 'Satoshi' Trial
A group of cryptocurrency asset developers urged a London judge on Friday to order Australian computer scientist Craig Wright to never again assert that he is the pseudonymous inventor of bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto, arguing it was the best way to end his "campaign of dishonesty."
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June 07, 2024
Axed Telecom CEO Loses Early Battle In Whistleblower Suit
A former interim chief executive officer at a telecom company has failed for now to get her job back, with a tribunal saying it was unconvinced by her early-stage claim that she was unfairly dismissed for calling out allegedly unlawful business proposals that would breach agreements with HSBC.
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June 07, 2024
Former Allianz Unit Exec Admits Role In $6B Fund Fraud
A former portfolio manager at Allianz SE's U.S. unit told a Manhattan federal judge Friday that he lied to investors about the risks of the German finance giant's now-defunct Structured Alpha Funds, admitting to his role in a $6 billion fraud.
Expert Analysis
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What The EU Sustainability Directive Will Mean For Companies
The European Parliament’s recent approval of the landmark Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive provides welcome clarity for small and midsize enterprises regarding human rights and environmental due diligence expectations, forming part of a growing pressure on companies around the world to operate ethically and sustainably, say lawyers at Jenner & Block.
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What Can Be Learned From CMA's Green Claims Investigation
The Competition and Markets Authority's recent investigation into retailers' allegedly misleading environmental claims demonstrates that all consumer-facing businesses must exercise caution and ensure their green credentials are genuine, say Charlotte Kong and Stephen Sidkin at Fox Williams.
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The Art Of Corporate Apologies: Crafting An Effective Strategy
Public relations challenges often stop companies from apologizing amid alleged wrongdoing, but a recent U.K. government consultation seeks to make this easier, highlighting the importance of corporate apologies and measures to help companies balance the benefits against the potential legal ramifications, says Dina Hudson at Byfield Consultancy.
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AI Tools Could Enhance UK Gov't Public Services Strategy
The government’s recently announced intention to pilot artificial intelligence tools in routine policy work is part of a wider strategy to revolutionize the delivery of public services, and could improve productivity and create efficiencies, provided it is mindful of the potential risks involved, say attorneys at Akin.
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Taking Stock Of The Latest Criminal Court Case Statistics
The latest quarterly statistics on the type and volume of cases processed through the criminal court illustrate the severity of the case backlog, highlighting the need for urgent and effective investment in the system, say Ernest Aduwa and Jessica Sarwat at Stokoe Partnership.
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ICO Data Protection Guidance Offers Clarity On Fining Powers
New guidance from the Information Commissioners' Office is designed to offer transparency about its fining powers, and, combined with the office's wide-ranging enforcement authority, clearly intends to ensure breaching companies concentrate on the external harm they cause and not only internal changes, say Robert Allen and Amelia Handoll-Clark at Simmons & Simmons.
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Hugh Grant Case Raises Questions About Part 36 Offers
Actor Hugh Grant's recent decision to settle his privacy suit by accepting a so-called Part 36 offer from News Group — to avoid paying a larger sum in legal costs by proceeding to trial — illustrates how this legal mechanism can be used by parties to force settlements, raising questions about its tactical use and fairness, says Colin Campbell at Kain Knight.
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Investment Security Act Fine-Tune May Help Businesses
Although the government’s recent response to feedback on the National Security and Investment Act regime makes it clear that its approach is one of fine-tuning and substantial reforms will have to wait, there is still room to ease the burden on businesses by issuing guidance and refining the terms of mandatory area definitions, say lawyers at Linklaters.
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How New FCA Rules Strengthen Borrower Protections
The Financial Conduct Authority’s recently published final rules, aimed at strengthening protections for borrowers in financial difficulty by regularizing good practices across the industry, put its previous guidance on a permanent footing and send a clear message to firms that this issue remains a regulatory priority, say James Black, Julie Patient and Mark Aengenheister at Hogan Lovells.
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How Cos. Can Prepare For EU's Forced Labor Regulation
Before a new European Union regulation takes effect banning products made with forced labor from the internal market, economic operators will need to get their supply chain compliance functions ready, familiarizing themselves with international standards and case law, say Vassilis Akritidis and Jean-Baptiste Blancardi at Crowell & Moring.
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Opinion
New Property Category Not Needed To Regulate Digital Assets
The U.K. Law Commission's exploration of whether to create a third category of property for digital assets is derived from a misreading of historical case law, and would not be helpful in resolving any questions surrounding digital assets, says Duncan Sheehan at the University of Leeds.
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FTSE Draft Rules Show Impact Of FCA Listing Reforms
FTSE Russell’s recently published provisional rule changes represent a much-awaited indication of its response to the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority’s proposed listing reforms, providing a level of certainty that will assist issuers and advisers in preparing for the implementation of the regime, say lawyers at Davis Polk.
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FCA Strikes A Balance With 'Finfluencer' Guidance
With financial firms leveraging social media to engage with a broader audience, the Financial Conduct Authority’s recent "finfluencer" guidance signals a recognition of the imperative to adapt regulatory frameworks while maintaining a firm commitment to consumer protection, say David Allinson and Damien O'Malley at RPC.
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Pharma Remains A Key Focus Of EU Antitrust Enforcement
The recently published European Commission report on pharmaceutical sector competition law illustrates that effective enforcement of EU rules remains a matter of high priority for EU and national authorities, say lawyers at Dechert.
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Dissecting Recent Developments Against The Misuse Of NDAs
The U.K. government's recent plans to nullify nondisclosure agreements that prevent victims from reporting crimes should remind lawyers to proactively consider the necessity of such agreements, especially in light of the Solicitors Regulation Authority's warning notice on drafting improper NDAs, say Clare Davis and Macaela Joyes at RPC.