David Hamilton
David is a partner in Howard Kennedy's Business Crime and Regulatory team. He has over 16 years' experience representing individuals and corporates in the context of internal investigations and actions brought by domestic and international regulatory and law enforcement bodies including the Financial Conduct Authority, Serious Fraud Office, HMRC, police, European Commission, and US Department of Justice.
David specialises in financial services enforcement and has advised on a range of high-profile actions including market manipulation, anti-competitive behaviour, retail mis-selling and consumer redress programmes. He has also represented clients in the context of criminal investigations and prosecutions relating to pensions offences, tax evasion, insider dealing, bribery & corruption, fraud, and money laundering.
David also regularly advises companies across a broad range of sectors on their financial crime and regulatory systems and controls, conducting risks assessments, compliance audits, policy and procedure reviews, training, and ongoing engagement with supervisory authorities to ensure corporate compliance systems meet applicable standards.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 2009
Experience
- Pinsent Masons LLP (2019 - 2023)
- Stephenson Harwood LLP (2009 - 2023)
- Linklaters LLP (2007 - 2009)
Membership
- Financial Services Lawyers Association
- Fraud Lawyers Association
- International Bar Association
Qualifications
- MA (Hons.) (2003)
- GDL (2005)
- LPC (2006)
Education
- University of Aberdeen (2003)
- BPP Law School (2005-2006)
3 Contributions by David Hamilton
PRACTICE NOTES
Civil recovery of cryptoassets: challenges, tracing, interim remedies, disclosure, persons unknown and POCA 2002 (England and Wales)
Civil recovery of misappropriated cryptoassets
This Practice Note outlines avenues to reclaim misappropriated cryptoassets and sets out the legal and technical hurdles arising from the characteristics of such assets and the speed with which fraudsters can deploy obfuscation tools to conceal them. It addresses the roles of following and tracing during recovery, the availability of interim relief in civil proceedings concerning cryptoassets, and the significance of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA 2002) to civil recovery in this field.
Crypto asset recovery
Crypto asset recovery means regaining access to digital property that is lost, stolen, or otherwise unreachable. Situations prompting recovery include lost wallet access, mistaken transactions—for example, assets sent to the wrong wallet address—or fraud.
Depending on the facts, potential approaches include:
Reconstructing passwords and seed phrases, using brute-force methods or partial backups
Conducting blockchain analysis to map transfers and pinpoint destination wallets
Using data recovery utilities to extract information from damaged or corrupted devices
Pursuing legal remedies, including civil claims and applications for injunctive relief...
Dispute Resolution
PRACTICE NOTES
The Pensions Regulator’s UK powers to investigate and prosecute pensions offences: enforcement strategy, information-gathering, entry and search, interviews, fixed penalties, and DWP MoU on ss 58A–B
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) operates two enforcement strategies:
one enforcement strategy detailing how TPR undertakes enforcement across its functions other than automatic enrolment, and
a distinct compliance and enforcement strategy aimed at employers with automatic enrolment obligations.
Together, these describe the outcomes TPR pursues and the means to deliver them, all to strengthen safety and security for pension savers. TPR also maintains a prosecution policy setting out how it will deal with criminal offences linked to occupational pensions. The enforcement and prosecution policies sit beneath its TPR scheme management enforcement policy, which states the overarching aims of its enforcement activity and offers insight into the framework TPR applies when choosing cases for enforcement action.
In November 2024, TPR stated that the swift expansion in the scale of occupational pension schemes meant members should be protected from systemic risk through a more ‘prudential-style of regulation’. TPR has therefore shifted focus to address risks not only at the level of individual schemes but also risks that ‘impact the wider financial ecosystem’. TPR signalled it would roll out a new regulatory toolkit, including investment in digital, data and technology and the adoption of new approaches...
Corporate Crime
PRACTICE NOTES
TPR pensions investigations and enforcement in the UK: notifiable events, whistleblowing, information powers, searches, internal investigations, evidence handling and legal privilege
The Pensions Regulator’s scheme management enforcement strategy explains its approach to compliance and enforcement across defined benefits funding, defined contribution and public service pension schemes, while also describing the outcomes TPR may pursue and the means by which it could achieve them, all to strengthen safety and security for pension savers. Its prosecution policy and broader enforcement strategy set out the principal aims of its enforcement activity and give insight into the framework TPR applies when deciding which cases to take forward for enforcement action.
Initial considerations in TPR investigations
In its capacity as the UK regulator for work-based pension schemes, TPR has a suite of information-gathering powers to identify and track risks and to obtain evidence to support criminal prosecutions. These include:
requiring reports of breaches of the law and notifiable events
requiring reports prepared by skilled persons on specified issues
compelling trustees and employers to provide documents and other information
the power to inspect premises
For more information, see Practice Notes: Powers of the Pensions Regulator (TPR) to enforce pensions offences, The role of the Pensions Regulator and The powers of the Pensions Regulator. When conducting an investigation, TPR will...
Corporate Crime
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