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Corporate Crime & Compliance UK

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Fraud Plan Puts FCA At Forefront Of UK Crypto-Crackdown

The Financial Conduct Authority has been given a lead role in targeting money laundering, crypto-assets and money transfer scams in a government fraud strategy involving multiple agencies, which lawyers expect will boost enforcement action and heap a new compliance burden on financial institutions.

Strips of newspaper with the words 'freedom of speech' typed on them.

1st SLAPP Ruling Delivers Symbolic But Limited Landmark

A judge recently found for the first time that a claim met the statutory definition of a strategic lawsuit against public participation, offering a symbolically significant — if limited — test of new powers designed to curb abusive litigation.

Sign outside headquarters of UK government's department of defence.

MoD Whistleblower's Airbus Corruption Claim Gets Delayed

A whistleblower's claim against the government and an Airbus subsidiary for damages will be delayed after a London judge said Wednesday that the court will not have enough time to determine crucial issues in the case.

Illustration showing cyberattack on a computer network through a laptop, with a person typing.

New Fraud Unit Faces Hurdles To Take On Overseas Scams

A new anti-fraud unit built to disrupt the growing threat to national security posed by online scammers fills gaps left in the enforcement landscape, lawyers say — although there are hurdles for prosecution of suspects, particularly when many scams originate thousands of miles away.

March 27, 2026
EU's Ribera: Antitrust Must 'Stay Strong' Against Politics

European Union antitrust chief Teresa Ribera had a word of caution Friday for competition enforcers who let political considerations influence their enforcement decisions, arguing in Washington, D.C., remarks that enforcement should remain stable against shifting political winds.
March 27, 2026
Fraud Suspect Can't Stop Extradition Over Swedish Prisons

A U.K.-based man failed on Friday to stop his extradition to Sweden over a conviction for unlawfully handling tobacco and a charge of fraud, as a London court rejected his argument that he faced a real risk of being subjected to inhuman treatment in detention.
March 27, 2026
UK College Wins VAT Dispute Over Tax Status Of Funding

A technical college providing free courses to students with U.K. government funding was right to treat the funding as consideration for its taxable supply of services, making it subject to value-added tax that could be recovered from HM Revenue & Customs, a London court ruled Friday.
March 27, 2026
Crowe Liable For £100K Over Wine Investment Ponzi Audit

The liquidators of a failed wine investment company won just over £100,000 ($133,000) in their negligence case against an accounting firm after a court held Friday that the firm's directors' Ponzi scheme was the main reason for its loss.
March 27, 2026
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

The past week in London has seen Apple hit back at a tech company's wireless charging patent claim, a flurry of businesses bring COVID-19 pandemic insurance claims as a key deadline draws closer and Ipulse Partners LLP file a claim against a luxury yacht company it represented in a trademark dispute. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
March 27, 2026
SFO Backs Conviction After Finding Undisclosed Material

The Serious Fraud Office said Friday that it has uncovered material that it should have disclosed to a defendant before their trial but that the evidence, found in a historical review of cases, did not undermine their conviction.
March 27, 2026
Oligarch Fights To Reopen Tossed $14B Asset-Stripping Claim

Imprisoned oligarch Ziyavudin Magomedov asked a London appeals court on Friday to revive his $14 billion claim that he was the victim of a Russian state-led conspiracy to strip his assets in two major port operators.
March 27, 2026
Celebs Focus On PI Fees In Daily Mail Privacy Trial Closing

Daily Mail journalists "habitually commissioned" private investigators to procure information using unlawful methods, Prince Harry, Elton John and other public figures suing the newspaper publisher have said in closing arguments at the trial in London.
March 27, 2026
FCA Asks Gov't To Extend Reach Of Senior Managers Regime

The Financial Conduct Authority has renewed calls for the government to extend its senior managers regime to regulated payments businesses and stock exchanges in its annual perimeter report.
March 27, 2026
Letter From Law Firm Partner Spurs Rebuke From SRA

A director at a City law firm has formally been sanctioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority after he was found to have written a letter that undermined public confidence in the profession.
March 27, 2026
FCA Hits Investment Bank With Fine For Monitoring Failures

The Financial Conduct Authority said Friday that it has fined Dinosaur Merchant Bank £338,000 ($449,000) for failing to maintain adequate systems to detect and report potential market abuse.
March 27, 2026
Just Eat, Autotrader Among Firms Probed Over Fake Reviews

The Competition and Markets Authority said Friday that it has launched consumer law investigations into five companies, including Autotrader and Just Eat, over concerns about fake or misleading online reviews.
March 27, 2026
FCA Failed British Steel Pensioners, Review Finds

The Financial Conduct Authority failed to protect former members of the British Steel Pension Scheme from foreseeable harm in a series of regulatory failings, the complaints commissioner has said.
March 27, 2026
EU Court Told To Uphold €7.7M Cartel Fine For Packaging Biz

An EU court correctly interpreted rules on how competition cases are shared between national regulators and the European Commission when it upheld a cartel fine of €7.67 million ($8.83 million) against Crown Holdings Inc., an advocate general has said.
March 27, 2026
Crown Court Backlog Tops 80K As Gov't Promises Action

The Ministry of Justice has said the number of cases awaiting trial at Crown Courts in England and Wales has climbed above 80,000 for the first time as the government said it would pull "every lever" to cut the growing backlog.
March 26, 2026
SRA Says Dentons AML Case Needs Fresh Tribunal

The Solicitors Regulation Authority said Thursday that the Court of Appeal should uphold a ruling that a regulatory tribunal should rehear allegations that Dentons had breached anti-money laundering regulations, arguing that the tribunal had misdirected itself.
March 26, 2026
UK Hits Crypto Network Tied To Cambodia Scam Hub

The U.K. sanctioned on Thursday a "key lieutenant" to the billionaire businessman behind Cambodia's scam centers as well as a major crypto marketplace catering to fraudsters in the latest crackdown on online threats that target Britons.
March 26, 2026
Italy Seizes €20M Tied To Fraud Against Ursula Andress

Italian police said Thursday that they have seized approximately €20 million ($23 million) worth of assets in Florence, suspected to be the proceeds of money laundering that allegedly targeted James Bond actor Ursula Andress.
March 26, 2026
FCA To Use AI To Spot Consumer Harm Faster In New Plan

The Financial Conduct Authority set out plans on Thursday to use artificial intelligence as a regulatory tool to authorize businesses and detect harm faster in its annual work program.
March 26, 2026
Odey Denies Threat To Shut Biz To Scupper Misconduct Probe

Crispin Odey denied at a tribunal on Thursday that he threatened to shut down his hedge fund to force executives not to impose restrictions on him to safeguard women at the firm after repeated allegations of sexual misconduct.
March 26, 2026
EU Adopts Landmark Anti-Corruption Law

European Union lawmakers passed a new set of bloc-wide anti-corruption rules on Thursday that will streamline legal definitions and set out penalties for bribery, misappropriation and economic crimes as the bloc seeks to crack down on corruption across borders.
March 26, 2026
Whistleblower Bank Exec Wins Costs In Welsh Bribery Feud

A bank in Wales must help pay a former senior executive's costs in a dispute over claims that it fired him for raising concerns that his line manager was allegedly accepting bribes from the CEO.
March 26, 2026
UK Watchdog Revamps Audit Supervision In Quality Boost Bid

The accounting watchdog has launched a modernized supervisory framework for audit firms, centered on their systems of quality management used to deal with risks to audit quality.
March 26, 2026
Ex-Police Federation Treasurer Gets 2 Yrs For Expenses Fraud

A former police officer and treasurer with the West Mercia Police Federation has been sent to prison after using members' funds to pay for family holidays, alcohol and entertainment.
March 25, 2026
Amazon Can't Ax Overlapping Price Inflation Class Actions

Amazon has failed to strike out a class action over its allegedly abusive pricing policies which saw higher fees passed on to consumers, as a tribunal rejected the technology giant's argument that the proceedings are an abuse of process.

Editor's Picks

New 'British FBI' Plan Missing Vital Detail, Lawyers Say

Plans by the government to merge several fraud enforcement agencies give little detail about how the largest policing overhaul in 200 years will operate in practice, although lawyers say the Serious Fraud Office appears to be safe — for now.
Slapped Down: SRA At Crossroads After SLAPP Setbacks

The string of failed prosecutions brought by the Solicitors Regulation Authority against City lawyers accused of trying to silence journalists on behalf of clients has raised questions about its enforcement strategy, with critics accusing the watchdog of overreaching its rules.
Meet The Lawyers Tapped To Defend In Entain Bribery Case

Eleven gambling managers and employees, including former top executives at Ladbrokes and Coral owner Entain PLC, have enlisted veteran defense counsel and some of the country's most experienced trial solicitors and barristers to defend themselves against the Crown Prosecution Service's bribery and fraud charges.

Expert Analysis

Carillion Fines Show FCA's Broad View Of Directors' Duties

The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent issuing of final notices to Carillion’s former group CEO demonstrates that executive directors cannot recklessly allow misleading public announcements that undermine market confidence, says Wendy Saunders at Lewis Silkin.
Assessing Potential Legal Claims From Private Credit Turmoil

Amid the downturn in the private credit markets spurred by multiple high-profile bankruptcies, a New York lawsuit stemming from the collapse of First Brands provides an important case study for investors to help minimize future losses and maximize any potential recovery in the event of a private credit default, say attorneys at Bleichmar Fonti.
What New FCA Rules Mean For Deferred Payment Providers

New rules from the Financial Conduct Authority requiring deferred payment credit providers to obtain a financial services license have two notable implications: providers will be subject to full compliance with the regulator’s consumer duty, and must meet its organizational and governance requirements, says Alix Prentice at Cadwalader.
FCA Stablecoin Sandbox Indicates Shift In Crypto Regulation

The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent decision to use four companies to test stablecoin models within its regulatory sandbox provides a mechanism for testing real-world use cases, and shines a light on the U.K.'s broader strategy in the context of global stablecoin legislation, says Ben Lee at Andersen.
Who Will Be 1st To Prosecute New Corporate Fraud Offense?

With no prosecutions under the failure to prevent fraud offense six months on from its introduction, lawyers at BCL Solicitors explore the front-runners in the race to prosecute, and consider whether a private prosecutor might beat a state prosecuting authority to the finish line.
What EU Cybersecurity Proposals Could Mean For Tech Cos.

The European Commission’s recent proposals for further communication technologies regulation via the Cybersecurity Act 2 and Digital Networks Act signify a substantive shift in how the European Union expects digital services, infrastructure and supply chains to function in an era of intensifying geopolitical risk, say lawyers at Akin.
FCA's £44M Nationwide Fine Highlights AML Control Gaps

The Financial Conduct Authority’s recent £44 million fine of Nationwide Building Society for anti-money laundering control failures demonstrates that where a firm does not implement appropriate policies and remediation projects, there is a risk that noncompliance will remain unaddressed, say lawyers at Taylor Wessing.
What Brazil's Adequacy Status Will Mean For EU Data Flow

The European Commission’s recent historic decision to grant full adequacy status to Brazil for personal data transfers removes a significant compliance burden for organizations and offers an opportunity to simplify transfer mechanisms, positioning Brazil as a major gateway for EU-Latin America data flows, say lawyers at Gibson Dunn.
How UK Securitization Reforms Will Affect Industry

The Prudential Regulation Authority’s recent proposals to reform securitization requirements will offer greater structuring flexibility, reduced operational complexity and lower compliance costs, although with the rationale for imposing stand-alone obligations on institutional investors not clear, dissenting voices are likely, say lawyers at Skadden.
How EU Reforms May Affect Copyright, AI Balance

The European Parliament’s recently proposed resolution calling on the European Commission to address the intersection between copyright and generative artificial intelligence will have implications for companies developing technology, whose compliance costs will soar, and rights holders, for whom great opportunities may lie ahead, says Pasquale Tammaro at BonelliErede.
FCA's HTX Action Shows Crypto Ad Rules Must Be Followed

The Financial Conduct Authority’s London High Court action against global crypto-exchange HTX for illegally promoting its services to U.K. consumers sends the message that it will pursue those who flout the rules from a distance and will be key in testing the extent of the U.K.’s regulatory perimeter, says Nick Barnard at Corker Binning.
UK Territories May Yet Prevail On Ownership Disclosure

Despite its recently launched anti-corruption strategy, the U.K. government appears to have little appetite in the short term to impose fully public ownership registers on the overseas territories, a position that will be welcomed by advisers and individuals, says Rupert Cullen at Allectus Law.
New Foreign Bribery Guide Can Help Int'l Cos. Identify Risks

In light of growing global coordination on anti-bribery enforcement, the International Foreign Bribery Taskforce’s recent guide to foreign bribery indicators represents a step forward in the standardization of factors for evaluating corruption risks that multinational companies should consider, say lawyers at Paul Weiss.
FCA Enforcement Newsletter Reflects Shift Toward Openness

The Financial Conduct Authority’s inaugural Enforcement Watch newsletter provides clarity on the cases the regulator is opening and highlights its approach to early communication of enforcement activity, offering a welcome insight into its emerging priorities, says David Hamilton at Howard Kennedy.
How UK Gov't Proposes To Streamline CMA Regime

The Department for Business and Trade’s planned overhaul of the Competition Market Authority’s regime will introduce a series of targeted procedural changes aimed at improving efficiency and engagement, raising questions around procedural safeguards and jurisdictional thresholds, say lawyers at Baker Botts.