Corporate Crime & Compliance UK

  • February 23, 2024

    Therium Can't Block Law Firm's Claim Over VW Scandal

    A London court refused Friday to end a law firm's claim that litigation funder Therium breached a confidentiality agreement for group emissions litigation against Volkswagen, even though the case involves some facts similar to one decided by the U.K.'s top court.

  • February 23, 2024

    Ex-Kurdish Energy Minister Largely Fails To Ax Libel Defense

    An Iraqi politician largely failed to throw out an investigative reporting organization's defense to his defamation claim, after a London judge ruled that journalists had a real chance of showing they fairly and accurately reported legal proceedings in an article about alleged corruption in the Iraqi oil business.

  • February 23, 2024

    Ex-Law Firm Worker Can't Nix Sanction Over Siphoned Funds

    An ex-employee of a law firm failed to convince a tribunal Friday that it should overturn a restriction on his ability to work in law after he was exonerated in criminal proceedings on accusations that he had embezzled at least £89,000 ($113,000).

  • February 23, 2024

    Russian Tycoon Can Take Sanctions Case To UK's Top Court

    An oligarch can take his attempt to halt a $850 million fraud claim brought by two Kremlin-backed banks to the U.K.'s highest court after it granted him permission to challenge a decision allowing the case to proceed despite one of the lenders being under British sanctions.

  • February 23, 2024

    Lawyers Question UK's Sanction Muscle 2 Years After Invasion

    A lack of enforcement over suspected sanctions breaches two years on from Russia's invasion of Ukraine has left lingering doubts about the effectiveness of the U.K.'s response — even though prosecutors recently opened the first such criminal case, legal experts say.

  • February 23, 2024

    Serco Ordered To Dump Staff's Biometric Data

    The privacy watchdog ordered Serco's health club arm on Friday to stop using facial recognition and fingerprints to identify when employees clock in to work, saying that it is an excessively intrusive use of biometric data.

  • February 23, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen Tesco target competing retailer Lidl with a copyright claim as they battle in the Court of Appeal over the design of Tesco’s Clubcard, the directors of a taxi business sue the creator of an AI route mapping app for professional negligence, Global Aerospace Underwriting Managers tackle an aviation claim by an Irish investment company, and Robert Bull hit with a general commercial contracts claim by Hancock Finance.

  • February 23, 2024

    UK Gov't Backs Plans To Expand Scope Of Anti-SLAPP Laws

    The U.K. government added its backing on Friday to legislation that will prevent corrupt elites from making spurious legal claims to gag journalists and silence critics, expanding on similar rules introduced into law last year.

  • February 23, 2024

    Pensions Regulator To Rejig Oversight Of Workplace Schemes

    The Pensions Regulator has said it will create three new regulatory functions as part of a strategic overhaul it said would meet the demands of a changing marketplace of fewer, but larger schemes.

  • February 23, 2024

    FCA Fires Warning Shot Over City's Consumer Duty Failings

    The Financial Conduct Authority has sent out a fresh warning to financial services companies highlighting how some of them are failing to comply with its Consumer Duty regime. But experts have told Law360 that the expectations are unclear.

  • February 22, 2024

    Spain Allowed To Reclaim Illegal Aid Given To Ship Buyers

    Spain can reclaim the financial benefits given to beneficiaries of a tax scheme that gave illegal state aid to purchasers of ships built in Spanish shipyards, the European Union's General Court has ruled.

  • February 22, 2024

    Upcoming Election Hampering Net-Zero Progress, MPs say

    A looming general election is hindering attempts by policymakers to introduce or consult on green policies, while risking Britain's broader transition to an environment-friendly economy, a cross-party group of MPs said Friday.

  • February 22, 2024

    Frankfurt Wins Bid For EU's New AML Center

    The European Union's new authority to fight money laundering and terrorist financing will be in Frankfurt, Germany, the European Commission announced Thursday.

  • February 22, 2024

    NatWest Settles £60M VAT Fraud Case Ahead Of Retrial

    NatWest Markets PLC and liquidators for several defunct trading companies have settled a £60 million ($75.9 million) dispute over whether the bank is liable for a huge value-added tax fraud scheme ahead of a retrial.

  • February 22, 2024

    Transneft Ordered To Halt Bid To Block $14B Conspiracy Claim

    The world's largest oil pipeline company has been ordered by a London court to pause its legal action trying to force an imprisoned Russian oligarch to drop his $13.8 billion claim alleging his business empire was unlawfully seized in a sprawling Russian state conspiracy.

  • February 22, 2024

    Gang Jailed For 'Industrial Scale' Money Laundering Operation

    Four members of a gang that sent £26 million ($33 million) in dirty money to Dubai by depositing illegal cash at banks have been jailed for a combined 22 years, the U.K.'s tax authority said Thursday.

  • February 22, 2024

    Gov't Sets Out New Law To Clear Post Office Scandal Victims

    The government promised on Thursday to introduce "unprecedented" legislation before the end of July to exonerate hundreds of innocent people wrongly convicted in the Post Office IT scandal.

  • February 22, 2024

    ECJ Told Personal Data Can Be Sold In Enforcement Cases

    An adviser to the EU's top court wrote Thursday that selling a database containing personal information without the subjects' consent does not breach the bloc's privacy rules if it's carried out in the context of enforcement proceedings.

  • February 22, 2024

    Lloyds Sets Aside £450M For FCA Car Finance Probe

    Lloyds Banking Group said Thursday that it has set aside £450 million ($570 million) for potential legal expenses and compensation costs from a Financial Conduct Authority investigation into its past car-financing practices.

  • February 21, 2024

    Money Laundering Checks No Evidence Of Crime, Court Hears

    A British-Chinese woman accused of laundering bitcoin converted from a £5 billion ($6.32 billion) investment fraud made several online searches about money laundering after being stopped by customs officials, a London jury heard on Wednesday.

  • February 21, 2024

    SRA Fines Law Firm £16K For 'Reckless' AML Breaches

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority has fined a law firm that falsely declared it was complying with laws on money laundering and terrorist financing when it had failed to take any steps to identify potential exposure to such misconduct.

  • February 21, 2024

    Assange Extradition Not Political, US Gov't Says

    Julian Assange faces criminal charges in the U.S. for the "unprecedented" theft of military secrets that were published online rather than for his political views, lawyers for the American government said at his extradition appeal in London on Wednesday.

  • February 21, 2024

    EU Enforcers Detain 4 In €4.5M Money Laundering Swoop

    European law enforcement agencies said on Wednesday that they have arrested four suspects in Latvia as part of a multinational operation against a Russian-Eurasian criminal network and a finance company based in Malta that allegedly laundered €4.5 million ($4.9 million).

  • February 21, 2024

    Finance Firms Shuttered For £3M Loan Notes Fraud

    Two financial firms have been wound up after misleading investors into putting at least £3 million ($3.8 million) into an unprotected bond scheme, according to the Insolvency Service.

  • February 21, 2024

    Satoshi Associates Deny Wright's Claim To Be Bitcoin Creator

    Two cryptocurrency specialists who had interactions with the pseudonymous inventor of bitcoin in the 2000s told a London court on Wednesday that they do not believe Craig Wright's claims to be the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto.

Expert Analysis

  • Key Shifts In EU, UK Emissions Credits: Challenges For Cos.

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    An upcoming deadline to apply for free carbon dioxide emissions allowances in the European Union, and a reduction in the supply of similar allowances in the U.K., are likely to increase competition for allowances, and cause production, supply chain and contract issues for companies, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • UAE Bank Case Offers Lessons On Enforcing Foreign Rulings

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    The High Court recently clarified in Invest Bank v. El-Husseini that foreign judgment debts may be enforceable in England, despite being unenforceable in their jurisdiction of origin, which should remind practitioners that foreign judgments will be recognized in England if they are final and conclusive in their court of origin, say lawyers at Macfarlanes.

  • Revised OECD Guidelines Key In Shaping Business Standards

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    The OECD’s recent revised guidelines on responsible business conduct, supported by a domestic government agencies’ grievance referral mechanism, have already influenced EU due diligence standards, and enterprises engaging in the unique procedure will benefit from case-specific nuances, parallel proceedings and the availability of confidentiality protections, say lawyers at Debevoise.

  • Takeaways From CMA's Grocery Sector Unit Pricing Report

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    The Competition and Markets Authority’s recently published report identifying grocery retailers' problematic and inconsistent behaviors in their use of unit pricing signals that retailers will want to take care to use all pricing structures in a clear and transparent way, and that the CMA's soft approach is ending and enforcement is becoming a costly reality, says Michael Cordeaux at Walker Morris.

  • Report Can Aid With Sustainable Finance Disclosure Filings

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    The European Supervisory Authorities recently issued a report on companies' consideration of the principal adverse impacts of their investment decisions on sustainability factors, providing examples of good and bad disclosure practices under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, which firms should note in their future reporting, say lawyers at Debevoise.

  • Protecting The Arbitral Process In Russia-Related Disputes

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    Four recent High Court and Court of Appeal rulings concerning anti-suit injunction claims illustrate that companies exposed to litigation risk in Russia may need to carefully consider how to best protect their interests and the arbitral process with regard to a Russian counterparty, say lawyers at Linklaters.

  • Audit Reform Takeaways After Record KPMG Fine

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    The Financial Reporting Council’s recent £21 million fine against KPMG for its Carillion audit work failures is representative of the agency’s increasing proactivity in policing audit quality, and brings to light the U.K. government’s slow-moving but ongoing efforts to majorly reform audit sector regulations, says Paul Brehony at Signature Litigation.

  • Takeaways From The CMA's Green Collaboration Guidance

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    Recently published Competition and Markets Authority guidance on the application of competition law to environmental sustainability agreements should remove barriers for businesses that want to collaborate on environmental sustainability without breaking the law, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • RSA Insurance Ruling Clarifies Definition Of 'Insured Loss'

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    A London appeals court's recent ruling in Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance v. Tughans, that the insurer must provide coverage for a liability that included the law firm's fees, shows that a claim for the recovery of fees paid to a firm can constitute an insured loss, say James Roberts and Sophia Hanif at Clyde & Co.

  • Putin Ruling May Have Unintended Sanctions Consequences

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    By widening the scope of control, the Court of Appeal's recent judgment in Mints v. PJSC opens the possibility that everything in Russia could be deemed to be controlled by President Vladimir Putin, which would significantly expand the U.K.'s sanctions regime in unintended ways, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Navigating The New Framework On Nature-Related Reporting

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    The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ recently published disclosure framework represents a significant step toward the coalescence of nature-related disclosure standards for corporates and financial institutions, and has the potential to influence investor expectations and future regulation, say lawyers at Kirkland.

  • FCA Engagement Signals New Direction In ESG Disclosures

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    The Financial Conduct Authority recently published a response to a consultation on sustainability-related standards, highlighting the regulator's priorities for the U.K.'s green transition, including an early indication that it may turn its attention to nature-based disclosures, say Ferdisha Snagg and Andreas Wildner at Cleary.

  • New Policies Will Aid UK Cos. Accessing US Capital Markets

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    The U.K. government's recent adoption of regulations permitting the use of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, and announcement of measures to remove a 1.5% tax on certain share issues and transfers, should help ensure that England remains an attractive holding company jurisdiction for companies seeking a listing on U.S. stock exchanges, say lawyers at Davis Polk.

  • Key Takeaways From ICO Report On Workforce Monitoring

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    The Information Commissioner's Office recently published guidance on workplace monitoring, highlighting that employers must strike a balance between their business needs and workers' privacy rights to avoid falling afoul of U.K. data protection law requirements, say lawyers at MoFo.

  • Creating A Safe Workplace Goes Beyond DEI Compliance

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    The Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority recently proposed a new diversity and inclusion regulatory framework to combat sexual harassment in the workplace, and companies should take this opportunity to holistically transform their culture to ensure zero tolerance for misconduct, says Vivek Dodd at Skillcast.

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