Legal News

Russian Coms Russian Coms was a service exploited by hundreds of offenders to place more than 1.3 million fraudulent calls, defrauding victims around the world between 2021 and 2024. This highly developed spoof-calling operation enabled scammers to ring victims while making each call appear to originate from pre-selected numbers, including financial institutions, telecommunications companies and law enforcement agencies, deceiving targets, gaining their trust and stealing their money and personal details. So advanced was the ruse that handsets were sold by criminals pre-loaded with sham applications, meaning that if the device was seized or retrieved by investigators or law enforcement officers it would appear to be a standard smartphone on casual inspection. The phones were also fitted with a burn app that erased the handset immediately, blocking any unwanted scrutiny or examination. The NCA believes that Russian Coms was deployed to target...

Yet the likelihood of naming a successor to a post once regarded as virtually ministerial is still as murky as ever, prolonging a state of affairs branded by campaigners as a disgrace for a nation that likes to bill itself as a global leader against corruption. The anti-corruption champion answers to the Cabinet Office, the department responsible for supporting the prime minister and helping to keep the machinery of government running smoothly. Consequently, the prime minister sponsors the appointment. Since the inaugural appointment in 2004 there have been seven champions in all, with seasoned parliamentarians typically filling the brief. Previous intervals between holders have occurred, but the present hiatus is comfortably the longest. The champion’s function is to scrutinise the government’s delivery of pledges set out in its anti-corruption strategy, last refreshed in 2017 to cover the period up to 2022. There has been no...

In this issue: Cross border criminal investigations Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Consumer protection and cartels Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Local authority prosecutions Money laundering International Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Cross border criminal investigations Lynch’s death puts UK- US extradition under the microscope Following the death of tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, a parliamentarian has urged the tearing up of Britain’s extradition pact with the United States, alongside suggestions that UK nationals face trial domestically; however, practitioners argue the current approach is unlikely to shift. See News Analysis: Lynch’s death puts UK- US extradition under the microscope. Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Former UK anti-corruption champions urge government to fill role vacant for two years Two former UK anti-corruption champions are pressing the government to move quickly promptly and name a new...

UK- US extradition treaty criticism On 22 August 2024, Conservative MP David Davis and fellow Tory, former MP Jacob Rees- Mogg, argued that the 2003 agreement enabling the two countries to extradite their nationals should be scrapped or rewritten following Lynch’s fatal yachting accident. The Autonomy software founder was ultimately acquitted of fraud in the US in June, having been sent from the UK to face trial in 2023 after a protracted bid to have the case heard in the English courts. Lynch lost his life when the yacht he was on went down off the Italian coast on 26 August 2024. Lawyers told Law360 that prominent, widely reported matters such as Lynch’s tend to spark claims that the extradition pact treats British citizens unfairly, though there is little proof to support that view. According to Jago Russell, a partner at Boutique Law,...

Since John Penrose quit in June 2022, the role has stayed unfilled, despite persistent appeals from parliamentarians and campaign groups to appoint someone. He resigned in objection to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s part in the Partygate affair, in which officials held unlawful gatherings during the pandemic. Penrose, a Conservative MP who lost his seat in the July 2022 parliamentary election that ushered in a new centre-left Labour administration, told MLex the post needs a champion more than ever. He noted that there has been no Prime Minister’s Anti- Corruption Champion for more than two years now......

Money laundering with fraud has been the most common of this type of criminality by value in the past six months, according to KPMG. From January to June 2024, the courts handled nine cases with a combined value of £128.2m, set against four cases worth £32.6m in the same months of 2023, the Big Four accountancy company's mid-year fraud barometer reports. The biannual barometer, drawing on media sources, focuses on crown court cases alleging fraud of £100,000 and above. ' Money laundering remains a concern in the UK because the complexity and sophistication of financial systems can be exploited for illegal......

In this issue: Investigating criminal conduct Appeal and judicial review Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Insolvency and Companies Act offences Local authority prosecutions Money laundering Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Investigating criminal conduct A sense of renewal? Reflections on the SFO Annual Report Max Hobbs, a senior associate at Macfarlanes, unpacks the principal insights from the Serious Fraud Office’s 2023–2024 annual report and accounts, and explores what could lie ahead. See News Analysis: A sense of renewal? Reflections on the SFO Annual Report. Appeal and judicial review Thousands of fare-dodging convictions to be quashed As many as 74,000 fare evasion...

On 30 July 2024, the SFO released its Annual Report and Accounts for the 2023–2024 reporting year (the Annual Report). This came after the SFO named a new Director, Nick Ephgrave, on 25 September 2023, and after it set out a fresh 2024–2029 strategy in April 2024. Although those developments focused minds on what the SFO could deliver next, the Annual Report offers a chance to reflect on close to a year with a new Director and to take stock. Within it are clear wins and areas for progress, together with what the Director, in his opening statement, describes as ‘significant obstacles’ that the SFO must address. Taken together, the document invites consideration of performance to date and priorities for improvement under new leadership too......

What is the background to this case? On 6 May 2022, via an ex parte, without-notice application, the NCA secured nine Account Freezing Orders ( AFOs) under sections 303Z1 and 303Z3 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ( POCA 2002), each lasting 12 months. Allegations were made that persons and entities connected to Petr Aven—described as a ‘prominent Russian businessman and pro- Kremlin Oligarch’—had effected suspicious payments and/or were retaining monies for his benefit around the time of his designation by the EU on 28 February 2022, and subsequently by the UK on 15 March 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Those persons and entities included Ingliston Management Ltd, a UK-registered ‘service company’ owned by Stephen Gater, which has been responsible for the running of Mr Aven’s three UK homes and for meeting the domestic and personal expenses of Mr Aven and his...

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring concluded that companies such as Northern Trains Ltd and Greater Anglia had, for years, wrongly brought cases against passengers via the SJP. This Single Justice Procedure permits one magistrate to determine matters in private, relying solely on paperwork. In a written judgment from Westminster Magistrates’ Court, he said lawmakers had ‘never envisaged’ fare evasion charges being pursued by that route. Accordingly, the prosecutions ‘should never have been brought via the SJP at all’, Goldspring ruled. He declared six test cases a ‘nullity’, making those prosecutions invalid from the outset. As a result, tens of thousands of convictions nationwide are poised to be quashed. In his ruling he said ‘the implications are wide-ranging, because the same issue applies to more than 74,000 cases in which the same unlawful prosecutions occurred’......

In this issue: Criminal procedure and evidence Appeal and judicial review Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Environmental offences Goods vehicle licensing Health and safety Insolvency offences and Companies Act offences International Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Criminal procedure and evidence CPRC releases guidance on the latest Criminal Procedure Rules updates The Criminal Procedure Rule Committee ( CPRC) has issued its guide to upcoming changes to the Criminal Procedure Rules 2020, SI 2020/759. Amendments made by the Criminal Procedure ( Amendment No 2) Rules 2024, SI 2024/842 will take effect on 7 October 2024. See: LNB News 13/08/2024 43. Appeal and judicial review Revised Supreme Court Rules now expected in December 2024 The UK Supreme Court has issued an addendum to its ‘ Consultation on revision of the Supreme Court Rules: Summary of responses and Supreme Court response’, stating that the updated rules are likely to come into force in...

Five former Glencore traders, company directors and the group’s ex-global oil chief, billionaire Alex Beard, now face numerous counts for funnelling corrupt payments to officials across West Africa, in a scheme stretching back over 15 years. According to the SFO press release, the accused are charged in relation to the allocation of various oil contracts covering Cameroon, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast between 2007 and 2014. Two defendants are further accused of falsifying invoices sent to Glencore’s London office, described as service fees to a Nigerian oil consultancy, from 2007 to 2011. The investigation may broaden after the SFO stated on 9 August 2024 that it plans to file additional charges as it pushes forward with its bribery inquiry. This ranks among the agency’s most prominent matters in very recent times and, given the scope of the counts, could be the very...

Under the programme, whistleblowers who voluntarily and promptly provide the Criminal Division with original and truthful information about corporate misconduct that leads to a criminal or civil forfeiture exceeding US$1m are now able to qualify for a monetary award. The award can be up to 30% of the first US$100m in net proceeds forfeited, and up to 5% of any net proceeds forfeited between US$100m and US$500m. Any award is subject to defined eligibility requirements, outlined below, and requires, among other things, the whistleblower’s co-operation. The initiative complements another pilot programme introduced earlier this year that offers non-prosecution agreements to qualifying individuals who voluntarily disclose information about the same types of offences. Together, the programmes reflect the DOJ’s continuing efforts to incentivise individual reporting, and thereby encourage companies to implement effective compliance programmes and make their own disclosures of potential...

In other developments, a British- Chinese defendant was found guilty of laundering proceeds from a large-scale bitcoin scam; two traders convicted of manipulating rates secured permission to challenge their cases before the UK’s top court; and the Court of Appeal set out the scope of the National Crime Agency’s authority to stem illicit funds. Here, Law360 unpacks the standout Corporate Crime and civil fraud matters from the last half-year, highlighting key developments and outcomes. SFO misses on Saudi bribery trial In March 2024, two Britons accused of funnelling £9.7 million to Saudi officials, after an SFO probe into corruption tied to a multibillion-pound defence deal, were cleared of the principal bribery charges. One defendant, Jeffrey Cook — formerly at the Ministry of Defence and a past executive at GPT Special Project Management — received two-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for a lesser offence of accepting...

In this issue Criminal procedure and evidence Proceeds of crime Appeal and judicial review Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Environmental offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Local authority prosecutions Money laundering Corporate Crime in Scotland International Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Criminal procedure and evidence CTJ issues updated Crown Court Compendium The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary ( CTJ) has released a revised Crown Court Compendium, Parts I and II. This ninth edition reflects the position as at July 2024. See: LNB News 02/08/2024 82. Proceeds of crime SFO recovers funds from convicted property developer On 2 August 2024, Britain’s white-collar crime prosecutor confirmed it had recovered £86,000 ( US$110,000) from a former...

Abi Howarth will leave the SFO in late September 2024 as she takes up a new position as a director of land registration at HM Land Registry, a non-ministerial government department that tracks ownership records, the SFO confirmed on 6 August 2024. At the SFO, Howarth reported directly to the director and oversaw several divisions, spanning investigations and prosecutions, intelligence and international assistance. She is acknowledged for influencing multiple operational decisions, including helping to launch the SFO's new five-year strategy. Nick Ephgrave, director of the SFO, said Howarth 'has been integral to the streamlining and speeding up of our casework'......

Guidance on the UK’s new failure to prevent fraud offence Guidance on the UK’s new failure to prevent fraud offence is expected within the next three months, raising the prospect that the offence could take effect by April next year, according to MLex. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, approved by UK legislators last October, contains a clause requiring large businesses to establish ‘reasonable procedures’ to shield themselves from prosecution for failing to prevent fraud. The approach reflects the UK’s Bribery Act 2010, under which corporates may face prosecution for failing to prevent bribery. This closely mirrors the existing legal framework......

Hayes became the emblematic figure of the UK’s benchmark-rate rigging scandal after his 2015 conviction for conspiring to defraud the measure used to determine what banks pay to borrow. He initially received a 14‑year sentence, cut to 11, and left prison on licence in 2021. From day one, he has sought to quash the verdict, insisting prosecutors in the UK misread the case. Following years of setbacks, he finally secured an opportunity earlier this year to try to convince appeal judges. They rejected the bid, yet kept a path open to the Supreme Court — and in late July the country’s highest court granted him leave to appeal. Days before that decision was made public, Hayes spoke with MLex about his continuing effort to clear his name. He underlined that his fight goes beyond merely getting the Supreme Court to hear it, saying he...

This creates a significant legal exposure for UK businesses that import cotton from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region ( XUAR), alongside other higher-risk goods like cocoa, sugar and cobalt, too. This piece examines the Court of Appeal’s judgment and considers what it means in practice for businesses, including in relation to companies’ supply chain due diligence. Background In April 2020, the World Uyghur Congress ( WUC) submitted material to the NCA alleging that grave human rights violations were occurring in the XUAR and asserting that cotton from the region was likely the product of forced labour. The NCA refused to open an inquiry, saying it was not obliged to act unless a particular consignment of cotton had been identified as criminal property. It further maintained that where a party in the supply chain had paid adequate consideration, ie, market value, the goods could no longer...

The Serious Fraud Office ( SFO) stated it has recovered funds from Shaun Kiely after asset recovery proceedings in northern England. In 2011, Kiely received a three‑year prison term for orchestrating a £1.3 million property investment scam. He was also found guilty on 11 counts of deception and fraud amid claims he exaggerated the turnover of his company, which marketed commercial properties to the investors. He also assured backers they would see returns by letting the properties to a separate enterprise that he both owned and ran......