Reluctance among lawyers to raise the alarm on suspicious clients is hampering the fight against economic crime as companies wrestle with legal and cultural issues that could land them in hot water with regulators.
The Serious Fraud Office's bribery settlement with a British defense contractor underscores the agency's policy shift toward cutting deals in less than ideal circumstances, offering a blueprint on how to realign derailed negotiations, lawyers say.
New legislation laid out in the King's Speech on Wednesday included the government's plans for a bill to strengthen trading ties with the European Union alongside an Enhancing Financial Services Bill in the next 12 months, but lawyers warn that the scope remains limited with potential unexpected consequences.
New powers that put companies on the chopping block for crimes committed by their executives dramatically expand corporate liability to include a wider array of offenses, which businesses already struggling with "compliance fatigue" have barely begun to grapple with, lawyers say.
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Reluctance among lawyers to raise the alarm on suspicious clients is hampering the fight against economic crime as companies wrestle with legal and cultural issues that could land them in hot water with regulators.
The Serious Fraud Office's bribery settlement with a British defense contractor underscores the agency's policy shift toward cutting deals in less than ideal circumstances, offering a blueprint on how to realign derailed negotiations, lawyers say.
New legislation laid out in the King's Speech on Wednesday included the government's plans for a bill to strengthen trading ties with the European Union alongside an Enhancing Financial Services Bill in the next 12 months, but lawyers warn that the scope remains limited with potential unexpected consequences.
New powers that put companies on the chopping block for crimes committed by their executives dramatically expand corporate liability to include a wider array of offenses, which businesses already struggling with "compliance fatigue" have barely begun to grapple with, lawyers say.
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June 02, 2026
U.K. athletics' governing body was fined £350,000 ($471,300) on Tuesday after a Paralympian was killed when a shot-put cage collapsed on him during a training session, in what a judge called "an accident … waiting to happen."
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June 01, 2026
The governing body of athletics in the U.K. faces a potential multimillion-pound fine for the corporate manslaughter of an Emirati para-athlete who died after a shot-put cage collapsed on him, a London court heard Monday.
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June 01, 2026
International fintech company Wise is under investigation over potential money laundering offenses after the business appeared in hundreds of criminal files involving more than €500 million ($581 million) in suspicious transactions, Belgian prosecutors said Monday.
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June 01, 2026
Two men "worked as a team" to illegally sell arms and military equipment to countries, including South Sudan, Libya and Syria, a prosecutor said in closing speeches of their trial Monday.
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June 01, 2026
Regulation may be the biggest factor holding back greater use of agentic artificial intelligence at financial technology companies such as digital-only banks, according to a report on the global financial technology sector published Monday.
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June 01, 2026
The Solicitors Regulation Authority said Monday that it has appealed a decision by a tribunal to allow an owner of a law firm to continue to practice, despite findings that he bullied and harassed five young female employees.
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May 29, 2026
A California woman has filed a proposed class action against Barclays and its former CEO James "Jes" Staley, claiming that the bank and Staley facilitated and enabled a criminal enterprise tied to a luxury concierge company that trafficked, abused and exploited vulnerable young people.
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May 29, 2026
The past week in London has seen the billionaire who donated £5 million ($6.7 million) to Nigel Farage sue Ben Habib, the leader of far-right party Advance UK, for defamation; Mashreqbank bring claims against three subsidiaries of dissolved private equity giant Abraaj Group for commercial fraud; and the property and investment vehicle of the State of Kuwait be targeted by four real estate figures who filed a miscellaneous claim. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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May 29, 2026
A company director was imprisoned for just over eight years at an English criminal court Friday for his role in Ponzi-style foreign exchange investment fraud scheme worth almost £9 million ($12.1 million).
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May 29, 2026
Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell and its lottery bidding vehicle have been ordered to pay the Gambling Commission's legal costs on the indemnity basis after losing their £1.3 billion ($1.75 billion) claim that the regulator unlawfully awarded the prestigious National Lottery license.
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May 29, 2026
A barrister was fined £3,000 ($4,033) at a London disciplinary tribunal on Friday after she admitted that she had referred to a Pakistani woman as a "little goat farmer" while acting in Crown Court proceedings.
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May 29, 2026
Siemens' wind turbine unit has been fined £600,000 ($805,000) after an incident left a worker paralyzed from the waist down.
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May 29, 2026
European law enforcers have conducted a string of raids on several individuals, public bodies and companies in Corsica as they investigate a suspected €18 million ($21 million) fraud in subsidies for COVID-19 pandemic recovery.
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May 28, 2026
Britain's tax authority recovered £6.3 billion ($8.4 billion) in extra tax from investigations into small businesses and individuals in 2025, up by around £1 billion in a year, according to data released by an accounting services company.
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May 28, 2026
The Financial Conduct Authority warned regulated financial businesses Thursday they must do more to prevent financial and trade sanctions breaches after it found some weak systems and controls in a review.
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May 28, 2026
The owner of a now-collapsed mortgage lender accused of systematically plundering £1.3 billion ($1.75 billion) has been granted permission to sell cars including a Ferrari and several Rolls-Royces, according to a court order.
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May 28, 2026
The European Commission hit online retailer Temu with a €200 million ($232.5 million) fine on Thursday after it failed to prevent the sale of illegal and dangerous products on its platform.
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May 28, 2026
A senior tax barrister accused of cheating HM Revenue and Customs out of nearly £2 million ($2.7 million) genuinely believed he was using a legal tax strategy, his defense counsel told jurors at his criminal trial in London on Thursday.
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May 28, 2026
The audit watchdog said Thursday that it has fined BDO LLP £1.33 million ($1.78 million) and an audit partner almost £50,000 for serious breaches of rules in their audit of the 2019 annual financial statements of construction group NMCN.
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May 27, 2026
Italian authorities arrested the suspected leaders of a criminal organization that defrauded European Union governments of more than €78 million ($90.7 million) in value-added taxes on hygiene and household products, the European Public Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday.
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May 27, 2026
Mashreq, a former major lender to the collapsed private equity giant Abraaj Group, has sued three Abraaj entities after a London court upheld the bank's claim to a disputed $37 million debt assigned as security for a 2017 loan extension.
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May 27, 2026
The Financial Conduct Authority warned Wednesday that some companies are failing in their responsibilities by approving adverts that are released by non-FCA regulated businesses.
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May 27, 2026
The Insurance Fraud Bureau said on Wednesday that the east London borough of Barking and Dagenham has the highest level of fraudulent motor insurance claims in England, amid a continued year-on-year rise in scams in the U.K.
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May 27, 2026
The Association for Financial Markets in Europe has warned that rules proposed by the EU's banking watchdog must not lead to national regulators finding senior managers unsuitable because of anti-money laundering failings at the company level.
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May 27, 2026
A disciplinary tribunal struck off a former Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor on Wednesday after finding his convictions for child cruelty and assault had undermined the public's trust and confidence in the solicitors' profession.