Corporate Crime & Compliance UK

Lost Russian Jets Ruling Has Global Implications For Insurers

A London court ruling that major insurers must compensate aircraft lessors for planes seized by Russia will provide useful support for companies seeking repayments for assets stranded in conflict zones with little probability of their return.

Compliance in the workplace concept: photo of keyboard and cardboard files.

UK Growth Push Puts FCA Enforcement On Unfamiliar Footing

The government's demand that regulators should prioritize growth is "largely incompatible" with their duty to deter misconduct, say lawyers who are warning clients not to interpret the political messaging as a green light to engage in risky behavior.

American and Russian flags fly together in a breeze.

From Russia With Love? UK Lawyers Mull Sanctions U-Turn

Finance companies are enlisting white-collar lawyers to draw up plans for tapping back into Russia if the U.S. breaks with its Western allies and eases sanctions, although experts warn that unpredictable political winds mean there are as many risks as opportunities.

A red warning sign over a laptop indicating the system has been hacked.

UK Ransomware Ban Could Boost Cost Of Cyber-Insurance

The cost of buying cyber-insurance for the public sector and critical infrastructure could rise significantly because of a proposed ban on paying ransomware demands, experts warn, as the U.K. government looks at ways to disrupt the income of online criminals.

June 17, 2025
UK Escalates Sanctions On Russian Finance, Energy Sectors

The U.K. government struck Russian finance, energy and military sectors with 30 new sanctions on Tuesday, ramping up pressure on the country following devastating attacks on Kyiv earlier in the day.
June 17, 2025
Ex-Georgian PM Says Credit Suisse Ignored £600M Fraud

Georgia's former prime minister told a U.K. appeals court Tuesday that Credit Suisse Life cannot skirt liability for his losses from an employee's fraud scheme, saying the life insurer had obligations to policyholders to ensure their assets were being managed responsibly.
June 17, 2025
Geradin Partners Hires Top Lawyers For German Expansion

Geradin Partners said Tuesday that it has hired five lawyers from the law firms Hausfeld and Osborne Clarke as it prepares to launch in Germany later this year.
June 17, 2025
SRA Hits Firm With £64K Fine Over AML Lapses

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has hit a firm with a £64,000 ($86,000) fine after finding it failed to comply with anti-money laundering regulations for around six years.
June 17, 2025
EU Agrees Rules To Firm Up Cross-Border GDPR Enforcement

European Union co-legislators have agreed new legislation to improve cooperation between national authorities when they enforce data protection rules across borders.
June 17, 2025
Cuban Bank Hit Again With Offshore Fund's €71M Debt Claim

A Cayman Islands fund has alleged that the former central bank of Cuba owes sovereign debt and interest worth almost €71 million ($82 million) from loans taken in the 1980s, its latest move after a court barred it from suing the Caribbean state itself.
June 16, 2025
Ex-Metro Bank Execs Win Bid To Cut Fines Over Listing Error

An appellate tribunal on Monday reduced financial penalties for two former Metro Bank executives, confirming the bank breached listing rules when it published misleading financial statements in 2018 but finding the executives were honest with the tribunal about the £900 million ($1.2 billion) reporting scandal.
June 16, 2025
Mozambique Wins Bid To Add Safa Heirs In $1.9B Dispute

A London judge ruled Monday that Mozambique should be allowed to add the heirs of shipbuilding magnate Iskandar Safa to the government's claim over a bribery scheme as it seeks to enforce a $1.9 billion damages award.
June 16, 2025
Metal Exchange Faces Pushback Over Transparency Plans

Trade bodies representing financial institutions have warned the London Metal Exchange that its long-term proposals for increasing price transparency could risk it unlawfully abusing its dominant position as price data provider.
June 16, 2025
SFO's Top Accountant Named In King's Birthday Honors List

Nick Stroud, a top accountant at the Serious Fraud Office, has been recognized with an Order of the British Empire award.
June 16, 2025
VTB Sues JPMorgan Over €17M Asset Sale Amid Sanctions

VTB has alleged that JPMorgan owes it more than €17.8 million ($21 million) over the American bank's botched handling of a trading account and failing to pay out for assets it sold after the Russian bank was hit with sanctions, widening the legal dispute between the two companies.
June 16, 2025
Trader Says US Extradition For $12M Fraud May Be 'Terminal'

A British trader wanted in the U.S. for allegedly defrauding investors as part of a $12 million "pump and dump" scheme told a London judge on Monday that his poor health should prevent his extradition on human rights grounds.
June 16, 2025
Credit Suisse Life Fights $607M Liability To Ex-Georgian PM

The Bermudan life insurance arm of Credit Suisse challenged court findings Monday that it owes $607 million in damages to the former prime minister of Georgia, saying his losses were due to fraudulent activity by an employee of its banking arm.
June 16, 2025
Billionaire Accuses India Of Orchestrating His Kidnap, Torture

Billionaire Mehul Choksi accused the Indian government in a London court Monday of orchestrating his "appalling and traumatic" kidnapping and torture in the Caribbean to force him to return to India to face allegations of involvement in an $1.8 billion bank fraud.
June 13, 2025
UK Businessman Defends Asset Transfer As Tax Strategy

A British businessman denied that he transferred a company to his son to defraud a creditor, arguing it was part of a long-term tax strategy rather than a tactic to avoid repaying £4.7 million ($6.4 million) in debt.
June 13, 2025
EU Guides Watchdogs On Digital Outsourcing Upsurge

The European Union's financial markets regulator has released guidance for national watchdogs on how to regulate firms' expanding outsourcing of activities, driven by digitalization.
June 13, 2025
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

This past week in London has seen Tottenham Hotspur FC kick off against Manchester United co-owner Ineos Automotive following a soured sponsorship deal, Acer and Nokia clash over patents for video coding technology, and two investors reignite litigation against the founders of an AI exercise bike business that unlawfully pocketed $1.2 million in investments to fund their own lifestyles. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
June 13, 2025
Tecnimont Must Disclose Emails In €212M Bond Dispute

A Russian subsidiary of fertilizer producer EuroChem convinced a court Friday to compel industrial group Tecnimont to produce its communications with the Italian sanctions authority, days after the trial over the €212 million ($245 million) bond dispute kicked off.
June 13, 2025
Tribunal Says Sales Director Fired For Whistleblowing On Data

An employment tribunal has ruled that a company providing cleaning and security services ended a sales director's probation because he had blown the whistle on possible accounting manipulation, fearing that this would impact its stock market value.
June 13, 2025
European Banks Seek Changes To 'Unclear' Draft AML Rules

A trade body for European banks has warned that a European Union banking watchdog's proposed anti-money laundering rules make excessive demands on credit institutions.
June 13, 2025
FCA Sees 'More To Do' In Reshaping Regulation For Growth

The Financial Conduct Authority responded Friday to parliamentary calls for more growth-oriented regulation, saying that it is exploring new ways to boost Britain's international competitiveness on top of the steps it has already taken.
June 12, 2025
Lords Urges Regulators To Shed Risk-Aversion, Boost Growth

A cross-party House of Lords committee called Friday on the U.K.'s financial services watchdogs to change their culture of risk-aversion which is preventing them from promoting growth in the economy.
June 12, 2025
Ex-JPM Trader Warns Of 'Pressing Need' For DOJ Records

A former U.K.-based JPMorgan trader has urged a Washington, D.C., federal judge to rule on his bid for access to investigative records from a U.S. market manipulation case that he beat in 2018, saying continued delays could hurt him in a fast-approaching related proceeding in Brazil.
June 12, 2025
UK Investors Sue Cricket Team Owner Over Claimed Tax Fraud

Three U.K.-based investors in an Indian Premier League cricket team are seeking £10 million ($13.6 million) in damages from the club's owner, claiming in a London court that he duped them over the tax implications of selling their shares in his business.
June 12, 2025
UK Crime Agency Seizes £1M Home From UK Politician

The National Crime Agency said Thursday it has recovered a property worth in excess of £1 million ($1.36 million) in connection with a long-running money laundering investigation following an ownership dispute with the former lord mayor of Leeds.

Editor's Picks

6 Bombshell Moments From Staley's Bid To Clear His Name

Jes Staley has suffered a bruising week as he testified about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, culminating in an admission by the former banker that he had sex with a member of the disgraced financier's staff.
5 Questions For Spencer West Partner Karl Foster

The Financial Conduct Authority's approach to enforcement and consumer protection has come up against government economic growth priorities and resistance from the sector to its proposals to "name and shame" companies early on during regulatory probes.
UK Russia Sanctions Face Landmark Test At Supreme Court

The U.K.'s sanctions regime faces a major test on Wednesday as billionaire Eugene Shvidler seeks to have his financial restrictions cast off — the first case to challenge Russian sanctions that has reached the country's highest court.

Expert Analysis

How Unfair Practice Rules Boost Consumer Protections

With the consumer protection aspects of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act now in force, companies must not only ensure their business is not engaged in prohibited practices, but also consider how consumers make decisions to acquire goods and services, say lawyers at Linklaters.
Fraud Office Guidance Highlights Value Of Self-Reporting

New guidance from the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office on corporate self-reporting, cooperation and deferred prosecution agreements provides a useful framework for companies navigating criminal investigations and their potential resolutions — and underscores that corporations that self-report are in a better position to obtain DPAs than those that do not, say lawyers at Skadden.
Answering Key Questions About 2 EU Cybersecurity Laws

As companies work to implement two nascent European Union cybersecurity measures, the Digital Operational Resilience Act and the second Network and Information Security Directive, lawyers at MoFo address nine conceptual questions emerging around their interpretation and compliance obligations.
Industry Input Is Key As EU Weighs New Tariffs On US Trade

The European Commission’s ongoing consultation, which seeks feedback on a proposed expansion of products subject to tariffs and restrictions in retaliation to U.S. tariffs, opens an important opportunity for industry stakeholders to highlight why a scope exclusion is warranted, say lawyers at Crowell & Moring.
What End of Payment Systems Regulator Means For Biz

The U.K. government’s plan to abolish the Payment Systems Regulator and absorb its functions into the Financial Conduct Authority should eventually lighten the compliance burden for businesses under the PSR’s remit, which may in turn encourage growth, but the proposed changes will roll out slowly, say lawyers at Farrer & Co.
Compliance Lessons From Art Dealer's Terror Financing Plea

Regulated businesses can learn from the missteps of a recently convicted London art dealer, who failed to disclose sales to a suspected Hezbollah financier, by implementing compliance measures like anti-terrorism financing screenings as robust as their anti-money laundering policies and training staff to spot red flags, say lawyers at White & Case.
UK Capital Reforms May Help Startup Founders, VC Investors

Hidden in the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority's recent proposals on the definition of capital for investment firms are changes to the eligibility requirements for instruments to be included in a firm's regulatory capital — changes that may reduce the risk of investing, especially in early-stage fintech firms, says Andrew Henderson at Goodwin.
EU Watchdog's ESG Dashboard Raises Transparency Bar

The European Banking Authority’s recently introduced ESG dashboard is a key tool in aligning financial institutions with the European Union's sustainability policies, and fundamentally alters the risk environment by transitioning climate-related data from a compliance afterthought to a core component of strategic decision-making, says Kristýna Tupá at Schönherr.
Whistleblower Rewards May Soon Materialize In UK

Recent government and Serious Fraud Office announcements indicate that the U.K.’s long-standing aversion to rewarding whistleblowers is reversing, underlining the importance for organizations to consider managing misconduct risk and prepare for a potentially significant uptick in tipoffs, says Tom Grodecki at Cadwalader.
High Court Ruling Shows Firm Stance On Procedural Integrity

The recent High Court decision in Qatar Investment v. Phoenix Ancient Art demonstrates its zero tolerance of procedural failure, serving as a reminder that the financial burden associated with document disclosure will not excuse a party’s failure to comply with court orders, say lawyers at Quillon Law.
UK May Play Major Role In Corporate Misconduct Regulation

In light of the U.S.' pause in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, the U.K. Serious Fraud Office has released new guidance showing it may seize the opportunity to play a heightened role in regulating corporate misconduct by U.S. companies with a global presence, particularly over the next few years, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.
A Shifting Landscape Of Greater Scrutiny After Data Breaches

Recent Information Commissioner's Office fines for personal data breaches and a Home Office consultation signal a shift in the U.K. regulatory landscape, and with an increase in mass actions and resulting exposure, organizations should prepare for potential third-party claims from those incurring consequential losses, say lawyers at Atheria.
What To Note As HM Treasury, FCA Plan New Crypto Regs

Taken together, HM Treasury’s recently proposed crypto-asset regulations and the Financial Conduct Authority’s new discussion paper on regulating crypto-asset activities provide key insights into the government's planned regime, which represents significant changes that will affect all firms providing related services, says Mark Chalmers at Davis Polk.
Tools For Effective Asset Tracking In Offshore Jurisdictions

In light of a technology company's recent allegations that its former CEO maintained an undisclosed interest in offshore companies, practitioners may want to refresh their knowledge of the tool kit available for tracing and recovering allegedly misappropriated assets from both onshore and offshore jurisdictions, say lawyers at Walkers Global.
Guidance Offers Clarity On UK Foreign Influence Registration

The Home Office's recently released guidance on the new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme provides important context for different industries and sectors, highlighting that careful assessment of interactions with foreign entities and governments is needed to determine whether registration is required, say lawyers at Skadden.