Corporate Crime & Compliance UK

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FCA's 'Disgraceful' Response To Ruling Knocks Credibility

The Financial Conduct Authority's "disgraceful" response to a recent legal setback in a key enforcement case risks diminishing its reputation — adding to the pain of a critical costs judgment that lawyers say could prompt the watchdog to rethink how it approaches cases.
December 07, 2023
Robert Courts Appointed As New UK Solicitor General

Barrister Robert Courts has been appointed as the new Solicitor General after his predecessor was tapped to become illegal migration minister in a reshuffle prompted by the resignation of Robert Jenrick over the government's Rwanda deportation plan.
December 06, 2023
Metals Mogul Fights To Lift Trafigura Fraud Asset Freeze

Metals magnate Prateek Gupta on Wednesday sought to overturn a freezing order imposed on his assets in a wide-ranging $600 million fraud claim from Trafigura, saying that the commodity trader had not disclosed documents that he alleges show its traders were involved.
December 06, 2023
Audit Watchdog Discloses Upcoming Supervisory Focal Areas

Britain's accounting watchdog on Wednesday said climate risk and some specific industries will be among its regulatory priorities in the financial year beginning April, with a focus on compliance with corporate reporting and audit quality inspections.
December 06, 2023
Competition Court OKs First UK Class Action Settlement

Britain's antitrust court approved on Wednesday a £1.5 million ($1.9 million) settlement reached between members of a car delivery class action and a Chilean shipping company in a watershed moment for the U.K.'s collective actions regime.
December 06, 2023
SFO Whistleblower Says Saudi Bribes Were Widely Known

The compliance officer of an Airbus subsidiary told a whistleblower that corrupt payments to Saudi officials were known and accepted as a hard truth, telling him that "the world is not as beautiful as you would like it to be," jurors heard Wednesday.
December 06, 2023
Russia Acting To Avoid Sanctions, UK Finance Firms Warned

The National Crime Agency issued an alert to British financial firms on Wednesday that Russia is going through intermediary countries to gain access to goods and services despite sanctions imposed by the U.K. after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
December 06, 2023
SFO Makes Arrest Over Fake Airplane Parts Scandal

The Serious Fraud Office raided an airplane parts supplier on Wednesday and arrested one individual for suspected fraud in a criminal investigation into allegations that the company sold fake aircraft engine components.
December 06, 2023
MPs Target Gov't For Underpaid Pensions, Overpaid Benefits

The U.K. government needs to show that state pension payments are accurate after errors left thousands of people short of an average of £5,000 ($6,300), a parliamentary committee said in a report released Wednesday.
December 06, 2023
Swiss Trader Trafigura Hit With Angolan Bribery Charges

Switzerland's federal prosecutor said Wednesday that it has charged commodities trading house Trafigura Beheer BV and three individuals over allegedly bribing a former Angolan official to the tune of about €5 million ($5.3 million) for favorable shipping deals.
December 06, 2023
UAE Extradites British Trader To Denmark In Tax Fraud Case

Sanjay Shah has been extradited from the United Arab Emirates to Denmark, where the British hedge fund trader is wanted by Danish authorities for allegedly masterminding a £1.44 billion ($1.8 billion) tax fraud scheme, his lawyers said Wednesday.
December 05, 2023
Political Concerns Marred $14.9B Malaysia Case, Court Hears

The winners of a $14.9 billion arbitral award issued in a territorial dispute with Malaysia are now alleging that political concerns over a lucrative aerospace contract with Kuala Lumpur provided the impetus for a Spanish court decision unseating the arbitrator appointed to oversee the arbitration.
December 05, 2023
Google, Amazon Raise Microsoft Cloud Concerns In UK

Google and Amazon both told Britain's competition enforcer that the cloud services market is generally functioning well but contended Microsoft's licensing practices block competition and deserve a close look during a market investigation of the sector that the agency is undertaking.
December 05, 2023
Judge Drops EY's German Unit From Wirecard Investor Suit

A Pennsylvania federal judge dropped the German unit of Ernst & Young for a second time from a proposed class action accusing it and failed online payments company Wirecard AG of misleading investors about Wirecard's financial viability, ruling that the investors have not established the court has jurisdiction over the German entity.
December 05, 2023
News Group Apologizes For Invading Celebrities' Privacy

The U.K. arm of Rupert Murdoch's news empire publicly apologized in a London court Tuesday to scores of public figures who had alleged they had been victims of unlawful information-gathering, saying it "should never have taken place."
December 05, 2023
Trainee Solicitor Fired For Copying Emails Loses Claim

A trainee solicitor failed to prove that she was fired for raising concerns with regulators about alleged fraudulent activities by her firm, with an Employment Tribunal ruling that she was on her way out long before her disclosures.
December 05, 2023
Ex-Airbus Unit Exec Says He Realized Payments Were Bribes

The former head of finance at an Airbus subsidiary has described his growing "discomfort" at realizing that payments made to a subcontractor in a military contract with Saudi Arabia were bribes, as he gave evidence in court on Tuesday.
December 05, 2023
Council Can't Represent Shareholders In Suboxone Claim

A London court ruled Tuesday that a local council cannot act as a representative for hundreds of shareholders accusing Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC and Indivior PLC of misleading the market about the safety of its opioid addiction treatment.
December 05, 2023
UK Betting Giant Pays £615M To End HMRC Bribery Probe

A judge signed off a £615 million ($777 million) deferred prosecution agreement between betting giant Entain and the Crown Prosecution Service on Tuesday, ending an investigation over the company's alleged failure to prevent bribery in Turkey.
December 05, 2023
GDPR Fines Must Be For Wrongful Breaches, ECJ Says

The European Union's top court ruled Tuesday that authorities can only impose fines for deliberate or negligent violations of the bloc's data protection rules, but said company leadership wouldn't have to know about the wrongdoing to face financial penalties.
December 05, 2023
Currency Merchants Chase Forex Trader Over Contract Breach

Two currency exchange merchants caught up in fraud proceedings in Nigeria have alleged that a London foreign exchange company owes them $1.16 million under a contract to buy 570 million Nigerian naira ($712,000).
December 04, 2023
Spanish Media Hits Meta With €550M Suit Over Ad Targeting

An association representing more than 80 Spanish media outlets has become the latest to challenge Meta Platform Inc.'s advertising practices, lodging a €550 million ($596 million) lawsuit Monday that accuses the social media giant of building its dominant position in the market by ignoring the European Union's data protection rules.
December 04, 2023
Swiss Bank To Pay $123M For Hiding Offshore Account Funds

A Swiss bank will pay $123 million to the U.S. Department of the Treasury as part of an agreement to settle criminal charges that it helped U.S. taxpayers hide $5.6 billion in more than 1,600 secret bank accounts, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
December 04, 2023
Barrister Faces Tribunal Over Alleged Mishandling Of Funds

A barrister faced allegations in a London tribunal on Monday that he mishandled large amounts of a client's funds generated from a divorce settlement and the sale of a house, by sending them to his personal bank account.
December 04, 2023
HSBC Must Face Whistleblowing Claim From Ex-Risk Manager

A risk manager at HSBC can pursue claims that he was fired for blowing the whistle on what he perceived to be the bank's "patchwork" and inadequate data management systems, a tribunal has ruled.
December 04, 2023
Businesses Deny Fraud In Fight Over Oligarch's $3.7B Assets

Five Panamanian companies have denied taking part in an international fraud to deprive the immediate family of a dead Russian billionaire of assets worth up to $3.7 billion.

Expert Analysis

PPI Ruling Spells Trouble For Financial Services Firms

The Supreme Court's recent decision in Canada Square v. Potter, which found that the claimant's missold payment protection insurance claim was not time-barred, is bad news for affected financial services firms, as there is now certainty over the law on the postponement of limitation periods, rendering hidden commission claims viable, say Ian Skinner and Chris Webber at Squire Patton.
Extradition Ruling Hints At Ways Around High Burden Of Proof

The U.K. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Popoviciu v. Curtea De Apel Bucharest confirmed that, in a conviction extradition case, the requested person must establish a flagrant violation of their right to a fair trial, but the court's reasoning reveals creative opportunities to test this boundary in the U.K. and Strasbourg alike, says Rebecca Hughes at Corker Binning.
What Lawyers Can Learn From FDI Screening Report Findings

The recent European Commission report on the screening of foreign direct investments into the EU reveals how member states need to balance national security concerns with openness, and with more cross-border transactions subject to screening, lawyers must be alert to jurisdictional variances, says Jonathon Gunn at Faegre Drinker.
Why Law Firms Should Heed Calls To Put ESG Over Profit

According to Deloitte’s recent survey, the majority of Gen Z and millennials remain unimpressed with businesses’ societal impact, and junior lawyers in particular are increasingly expecting the legal profession to shift to a business model that prioritizes sustainability above profitability, says Dana Denis-Smith at Obelisk Support.
UK Review May Lead To Lower Investment Screening Burden

The government’s current review of national security investment screening rules aims to refine the scope of mandatory notifications required for unproblematic deals, and is likely to result in much-needed modifications to minimize the administrative burden on businesses and investors, say lawyers at Simpson Thacher.
What Prince Harry Privacy Case May Mean For Media Ethics

An English High Court recently allowed the privacy case brought by Prince Harry and six other claimants against the Daily Mail publisher to proceed, which, if successful, could embolden other high-profile individuals to bring claims and lead to renewed calls for a judicial public inquiry into British press ethics, says Philippa Dempster at Freeths.
Economic Crime Act Exposure: What Companies Can Expect

The intention of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act is to make it easier to attribute criminal liability to companies if a senior manager has committed an offense, but the impact on corporate criminal convictions depends on who qualifies as a senior manager and the evidential challenges in showing it, say Hayley Ichilcik and Julius Handler at MoFo.
How European Authorities Are Foiling Anti-Competitive Hiring

Lawyers at Squire Patton discuss key labor practice antitrust concerns and notable regulation trends in several European countries following recent enforcement actions brought by the European Commission and U.K. Competition and Markets Authority.
FCA Promotions Review Sends A Strong Message To Firms

The recent FCA review into firms' compliance with the rules on promoting high-risk investments to retail clients clarifies that it expects the letter and the spirit of the rules to be followed, and given the interplay with the consumer duty, there are wider implications at stake, say Marina Reason and Chris Hurn at Herbert Smith.
When Can Bonuses Be Clawed Back?

The High Court's recent decision in Steel v. Spencer should remind employees that the contractual conditions surrounding bonuses and the timing of any resignation must be carefully considered, as in certain circumstances, bonuses can and are being successfully clawed back by employers, say Merrill April and Rachael Parker at CM Murray.
The State Of UK Litigation Funding After Therium Ruling

The recent English High Court decision in Therium v. Bugsby Property has provided a glimmer of hope for litigation funders about how courts will interpret this summer's U.K. Supreme Court ruling that called funding agreements impermissible, suggesting that its adverse effects may be mitigated, says Daniel Williams at DWF Law.
UK Shareholding Report A Missed Opportunity For New Tech

The recommendations in the U.K. Digitization Taskforce's recent report on digitizing and improving the U.K. shareholding framework are moderate but not revolutionary, and its failure to recommend digital ledger technology will impede a full transformation of the system, say Tom Bacon and Andrew Tsang at BCLP.
What Lawyers Need To Know About The UK Online Safety Act

The recently passed U.K. Online Safety Act requires regulated providers to take action to assess and mitigate user risks, and counsel for these companies should take advantage of Ofcom’s clear desire to have a collaborative relationship and improve governance, say Rachael Annear and Tristan Lockwood at Freshfields.
Trial By AI Could Be Closer Than You Think

In a known first for the U.K., a Court of Appeal justice recently admitted to using ChatGPT to write part of a judgment, highlighting how AI could make the legal system more efficient and enable the judicial process to record more accurate and fair decisions, say Charles Kuhn and Neide Lemos at Clyde & Co.
Employer Considerations After Visa And Application Fee Hikes

The U.K.'s recent visa and application fee increases are having a significant financial impact on businesses, and may heighten the risk of hiring discrimination, so companies should carefully reconsider their budgets accordingly, says Adam Sinfield at Osborne Clarke.