Corporate Crime & Compliance UK

  • September 05, 2024

    Notary Authorizing Russian Sale Doesn't Breach Sanctions

    A notary does not breach European Union sanctions on Russia when they authenticate the sale of a property owned by a Russian firm, because they act as an independent holder of a public office, an EU court ruled Thursday.

  • September 05, 2024

    Investors Claim £12.6M Bank Investment Started With A Lie

    An investment company and its owner have sued two business partners for more than £12.6 million ($16.6 million) paid to set up a specialist bank, accusing the pair of lying by saying less than half that amount would be needed to get the bank off the ground.

  • September 05, 2024

    UK Inks 1st International AI Safety Treaty With EU, US

    The U.K. government said Thursday it has signed the first binding international treaty governing artificial intelligence safety, with the European Union and the U.S. among those also inking the deal.

  • September 12, 2024

    Squire Patton Hires Disputes Pro From Eversheds Sutherland

    Squire Patton Boggs LLP has said that a former trainee who specializes in commercial disputes has returned to the firm as a partner in its office in Birmingham, as it continues to expand its litigation practice across the U.K.

  • September 05, 2024

    FCA Boasts Accelerated Authorizations For Firms

    The Financial Conduct Authority said Thursday in its 2023-2024 annual report that it has significantly improved its authorization process, but has missed some targets in relation to processing applications of payments firms.

  • September 05, 2024

    Ticketmaster Faces UK Probe Over Oasis Tour Sales

    The competition watchdog said Thursday it has launched an investigation into Ticketmaster over concerns that it duped fans of Oasis into paying higher prices for their tickets to the rock band's scheduled reunion concerts using so-called dynamic pricing.

  • September 05, 2024

    UK Drops Weinstein Prosecution Over '90s Assault Charges

    Harvey Weinstein will not be prosecuted for indecent assault in England after the Crown Prosecution Service said Thursday that it is dropping charges over an alleged assault in the 1990s.

  • September 04, 2024

    X Stops Training Grok On EU Users' Posts To End Irish Action

    X Corp., the former Twitter, has agreed to permanently halt its efforts to train its chatbot Grok on personal data lifted from public posts made by its European Union users in order to resolve an urgent proceeding pressed by Ireland's data protection authority, the regulator announced Wednesday.

  • September 11, 2024

    Hausfeld Snaps Up Litigation Pro From Covington In London

    Hausfeld LLP has hired a partner from Covington & Burling LLP in London to boost its profile in commercial disputes, after its office in the U.K. capital recently underwent changes in leadership.

  • September 04, 2024

    Businessman Loses Last Challenge To $33M Fraud Extradition

    A stateless businessman accused of defrauding companies out of 28.6 million Swiss francs ($31.4 million) in an advance fee fraud scheme was denied by a London court on Wednesday permission to challenge his extradition from the U.K. 

  • September 04, 2024

    Grenfell Disaster Charges May Come In 2026, CPS Says

    London's police force said Wednesday it expects to provide evidence of possible criminal wrongdoing over the deadly Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 to prosecutors in 2026, after a long-running public inquiry into the causes of the disaster published its final report.

  • September 04, 2024

    ENRC Wants £240M From SFO, Dechert Over Criminal Probe

    ENRC is seeking approximately £240 million ($315 million) from the Serious Fraud Office and Dechert LLP over the agency's disastrous criminal investigation into the mining giant, including huge sums of money in unnecessary legal fees to more than two dozen law firms.

  • September 04, 2024

    Cap On Push-Payment Fraud Payouts To Plummet To £85K

    The payments watchdog said Wednesday that it plans to cut the cap on compulsory reimbursement by companies of authorized push payment fraud from £415,000 ($546,000) to £85,000.

  • September 04, 2024

    Fraud, Scam Complaints Reach Highest-Ever Level

    Fraud complaints in the U.K. reached a record high with 8,734 cases reported between April and June, according to data from the Financial Ombudsman Service published Wednesday.

  • September 04, 2024

    Lawyer Must Face Tribunal Over Claims He Misled Over Costs

    A solicitor accused of being misleading about costs has lost his attempt to escape the charges as a tribunal ruled on Wednesday that it was still in the interests of justice to try the case, seven years after the alleged wrongdoing.

  • September 03, 2024

    Vet Gets Suspended Sentence For Allianz Pet Insurance Fraud

    A crown court handed a veterinary nurse from West Sussex a suspended sentence after she admitted to making over £13,000 ($17,000) worth of fraudulent insurance claims from Allianz subsidiaries for her pets using the systems at her workplace.

  • September 03, 2024

    Tech Co. Accused Of Defrauding 'Plasma Reactor' Investor

    A Chinese businessman and his company have sued a U.K. technology company claiming they were defrauded of nearly £2.9 million ($3.8 million) by the firm and its directors after being led under false pretenses into investing in the development of a so-called "plasma reactor."

  • September 03, 2024

    Lawyer Accused Of Misleading Over Costs Fights To Ax Case

    A solicitor accused of misleading a client over his costs asked a tribunal on Tuesday to strike out the case against him, claiming that the Solicitors Regulation Authority had waited too long to bring the case.

  • September 03, 2024

    CPS Taps DVLA Chief As Next Director General

    The agency responsible for prosecuting criminal cases in England and Wales said Tuesday that it has hired the head of the U.K. drivers' licensing agency as its next operations chief, to take responsibility for its resourcing and policy strategy.

  • September 03, 2024

    SFO Seizes Watches Worth £500K In £76M Fraud Probe

    Serious Fraud Office investigators seized watches on Tuesday from a suspect arrested in a £76 million ($100 million) investment fraud probe into the collapse of a luxury care home provider in 2019.

  • September 03, 2024

    Pay To Play: The 2-Tier Legal Route For Crypto-Fraud Victims

    More people are falling victim to cryptocurrency scams, but their options for recovering money are few and expensive, which creates a two-tier approach — one for those who have the means to pay lawyers and consultants and another for those who don't.

  • September 02, 2024

    SFO Can't Challenge Liability For ENRC Probe

    An English appellate court refused on Monday to allow the Serious Fraud Office to challenge findings that its former officials encouraged a former Dechert LLP partner to divulge confidential details about an internal investigation into a mining company.

  • September 02, 2024

    OFSI To Bring 1st Penalty For Sanctions Violation This Year

    Britain's sanctions enforcer will bring the first penalty for breaching the banning rules later this year as the agency looks to crack down on Russian oligarchs whose assets have been frozen since the invasion of Ukraine, a senior Treasury official said Monday.

  • September 02, 2024

    Greensill, Gupta Deny Conspiracy In Zurich Insurance Row

    Financier Lex Greensill and steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta have denied conspiring to deceive underwriters at insurance giant Zurich over allegedly fake debts, amid a $400 million court battle in London over trade credit insurance. 

  • September 02, 2024

    Tribunal Backs FCA In Denying Ashraf Wealth Management

    A London Tribunal upheld on Monday the Financial Conduct Authority's decision to deny authorization to Ashraf Wealth Management Ltd., after the regulator concluded its founder should not carry out regulated activities unsupervised.

Expert Analysis

  • What Legal Cannabis In Germany Means For Employers

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    Since April 1, the consumption and limited possession of cannabis has been permitted in Germany, so employers should take a few steps to maintain safe and productive workplaces while respecting the new legal landscape, says Sven Lombard at Simmons & Simmons.

  • What French Watchdog Ruling Means For M&A Landscape

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    Although ultimately dismissed due to lack of evidence, the French competition authority’s recent post-closing review of several nonreportable mergers is a landmark case that highlights the increased complexity of such transactions, and is further testament to the European competition authorities’ willingness to expand their toolkit to address below-threshold M&As, say lawyers at Cleary.

  • New Directors' Code Of Conduct May Serve As Useful Guide

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    Although the Institute of Directors’ current proposal for a voluntary code of conduct is strongly supported by its members, it must be balanced against the statutory requirement for directors to promote their company’s success, and the risk of claims by shareholders if their decisions are influenced by wider social considerations, says Matthew Watson at RPC.

  • Comparing EU, Southeast Asia Approaches To AI Regulation

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    Although Southeast Asian countries often adopt statutory frameworks similar to those in the European Union, the region’s more business-friendly approach to artificial intelligence regulation may be a setback to the EU’s push for coordination with its AI Act and a barrier to establishing a global standard, say Anne-Gabrielle Haie at Steptoe and Nop Chitranukroh at Tilleke & Gibbins.

  • Exploring The EU's Draft Standards On Crypto Authorization

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    The European Securities and Markets Authority’s recently published draft standards aim to promote fair competition and a safer environment for crypto providers and investors, detailing precisely the information to be provided to national authorities in charge of screening the acquisitions of a qualifying holding, says Mathieu de Korvin at Norton Rose.

  • Assessing Exposure Under UK Foreign Influence Scheme

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    While the proposed Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, designed to ensure transparency around foreign state-directed activities, may be delayed by the snap general election, organizations should prepare for compliance, including addressing concerns about the extent of unintended consequences arising from the scheme's scope, say Gavin Costelloe and Gillian Sproul at Greenberg Traurig.

  • How FCA Guidance Aligns With Global Cyberattack Measures

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    The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority’s recent guidance on preparing for cyberattacks aligns with the global move by financial regulators to focus on operational resilience, highlighting the importance of proactive strategies and robust resilience frameworks to mitigate disruptions, while observing a disappointing level of engagement by the industry, say Alix Prentice and Grace Ncube at Cadwalader.

  • Contractual Drafting Takeaways From Force Majeure Ruling

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    Lawyers at Cleary discuss the U.K. Supreme Court's recent judgment RTI v. MUR Shipping and its important implications, including how the court approached the apparent tension between certainty and commercial pragmatism, and considerations for the drafting of force majeure clauses going forward.

  • Takeaways From Regulators' £61.6M Citigroup Trading Fine

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    Following the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority’s recent significant fining of Citigroup for its catastrophic trading error, and with more enforcement likely, institutions should update their controls and ensure system warnings do not become routine and therefore disregarded, says Abdulali Jiwaji at Signature Litigation.

  • Factors For London Cos. To Consider If Adding US Listings

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    Recent reports of a continuing valuation gap between London and New York have resulted in some London-listed companies considering U.S. listings to gain an increased investor base, but with various obligations and implications involved in such a move, organizations should consider whether there is a real benefit from trading there, say lawyers at Winston & Strawn.

  • Behind The Stagecoach Boundary Fare Dispute Settlement

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    The Competition Appeal Tribunal's recent rail network boundary fare settlement offers group action practitioners some much-needed guidance as it reduces the number of remaining parties' five-year dispute from two to one, says Mohsin Patel at Factor Risk Management.

  • Assessing The Energy Act 2023, Eight Months On

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    Although much of the detail required to fully implement the Energy Act 2023 remains to be finalized, the scale of change in the energy sector is unprecedented, and with the U.K. prioritizing achieving net-zero, it is likely that developments will continue at pace, say lawyers at Paul Hastings.

  • Decoding Arbitral Disputes: Spanish Judicial Oversight

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    The recent conviction of arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa underscores the critical importance of judicial authority in the realm of international arbitration in Spain, and emphasizes that arbitrators must respect the procedural frameworks established by Spanish national courts, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray’s Inn.

  • Opinion

    Why Timing Makes UK Libor Judgments Controversial

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    The recent U.K. Court of Appeal decision in the R v. Hayes and Palombo appeal against Libor convictions demonstrates that had U.K. regulators probed with the facts known today, civil claims in all jurisdictions would be dismissed and a decadelong wasted investigation should be put to rest, says Charles Kuhn at Clyde & Co.

  • Tips For Orgs Using NDAs In Light Of New UK Legislation

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    The recent passage of the Victims and Prisoners Act follows a crackdown on the misuse of nondisclosure agreements, but although NDAs are not prohibited and regulators recognize their legitimate justification, organizations relying on them must be able to clearly explain that justification if challenged, say attorneys at Macfarlanes.

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