The COVID-19 crisis presents fraudsters with a ripe opportunity to defraud businesses at a time when finances are tight, attention and resources are focused elsewhere, key staff may be absent and financial controls are under pressure. One of the simplest and most devastatingly effective of these frauds is a push payment fraud.
The science of compliance: SFO releases guidance on how it will assess corporate compliance programmes The SFO’s Operational Handbook1 has been updated with new guidance on how it will evaluate corporate compliance programmes (https://www.sfo.gov.uk/publications/guidance-policy-and- protocols/sfo-operational-handbook/). While the guidance is far less prescriptive than many corporates would wish and, in many…
On 10 February 2020 HMRC disclosed that it has 30 potential cases underway under the UK’s corporate criminal offence of “failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion” (“CCO”), split between nine ongoing investigations and 21 potential investigations (see here). Whilst there have been no confirmed CCO cases to date,…
DOWNLOAD ALERT On 3 October 2019, the United Kingdom and the United States signed a first-of-its-kind Bilateral Data Access Agreement (the “Agreement”), which is expected to reduce the time it takes UK and US law enforcement agencies to access electronic evidence held by technology companies located in each other’s territory.…
New Sentencing Guideline Following a consultation in 2018, the Sentencing Council has published a new sentencing guideline to come into effect on 1 October 2019 that will apply to sentences decided on or after that date. This new “General guideline” will apply to the sentencing of organisations and adult individuals.…
The UK Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) has released its long awaited Corporate Co-operation Guidance. It is a must read for any in-house counsel who conducts internal investigations with a UK nexus or corporates that may wish to seek leniency from the SFO. A copy of the guidance can be found…
The Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Act 2019 (“Act”) received Royal Assent on 12 February 2019. The Act allows UK law enforcement agencies including the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”), HMRC and the Financial Conduct Authority to apply for a court order with extra-territorial effect (an Overseas Production Order or “OPO”) to…
The Court of Appeal has handed down its much-anticipated judgment in the case of The Director of the Serious Fraud Office v Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Limited [2018] EWCA Civ 2006, overturning the most controversial aspect of the first instance decision.
Lisa Osofsky will be the new Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), taking over from David Green CB QC. Mark Thompson (the SFO’s current Chief Operating Officer) is filling the role on an interim basis before Ms Osofsky takes up the position full time on 3 September 2018.
A UK refurbishment contractor has been found guilty under Section 7 of the UK Bribery Act 2010 for failure to prevent bribery. The case represents the first time that a jury has considered an “adequate procedures” defence under the UKBA.