The Supreme Court has today handed down judgment in the case of R (on the application of KBR, Inc) (Appellant) v Director of the Serious Fraud Office (Respondent) [2021] UKSC 2 concerning whether the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) can require a foreign company to produce documents held overseas, pursuant to its investigation powers under section 2(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 (“CJA”). Read more

In this blog post, we round-up forthcoming developments in the UK and at EU and International levels in financial services regulation which are expected for February 2021. Read more

A further twist in the potential creation of a failure to prevent economic crime offence: last week a cross-party group of Members of Parliament tabled an amendment to the Financial Services Bill which, as drafted, would hold bodies “authorised or registered by the Financial Conduct Authority” liable for fraud, false accounting and money laundering offences committed by their employees. Read more

In this blog post, we round-up forthcoming developments in the UK and at EU and International levels in financial services regulation which are expected for January 2021. Read more

In this blog post, we round-up forthcoming developments in the UK and at EU and International levels in financial services regulation which are expected for December 2020. Read more

The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) ) has been unsuccessful in its attempted prosecution of a former banker, Konstantin Vishnyak, for destroying documents relevant to an FCA investigation brought against him for suspected insider dealing offences. This marks the first time the FCA has exercised its powers in connection with a destruction of documents offence under section 177(3)(a) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FCA”). Despite the outcome, it illustrates the risks for firms and individuals in using messaging systems such as WhatsApp. Read more

Welcome to the November 2020 edition of our corporate crime update – our round up of developments in relation to corruption, money laundering, fraud, sanctions and related matters. Our update now covers a number of jurisdictions. Read more

In October 2020 the SFO published guidance regarding Deferred Prosecution Agreements (“DPAs”) in a new chapter of its Operational Handbook. The guidance offers a practical step-by-step map to the route that the SFO, and, therefore, a target company and its advisers, will traverse where seeking to negotiate an outcome that avoids the need for prosecution. Read more