Corporate Financial and White-Collar Crime

We have a specialist corporate crime team who can provide advice on all aspects of corporate financial crime. We can offer support, guidance, and technical advice to companies and organisations relating to the various financial crime offences including bribery, tax evasion, fraud, money laundering, proceeds of crime and false accounting.

There is an increasing Government focus on preventing these crimes given in the UK, fraud accounts for 40% of all crime and the annual cost of all forms of fraud is around £190 billion, (the equivalent of £10,000 per family).

The Government is looking to place a greater degree of onus on companies and individuals to not only ensure they are not committing such offences, but to also ensure that they are being proactive by implementing adequate / reasonable procedures to prevent them. Failing to do so can expose organisations to being found in breach and unlimited fines.

How we can help you

Our team of corporate crime specialists can offer assistance with a wide variety of matters, ranging from large scale projects to day-to-day operations, including:
- Ensuring that you are aware of the latest legal requirements.
- Helping with high level reviews and audits of prevention procedures already in place, assessing whether they meet the requirement of being reasonable and identifying any gaps.
- Advising on methods to improve such procedures and policies and help assess whether the controls on place are effective.
- Assisting with offering engaging and interactive training packages which can be bespoke to your organisation’s requirements.
- Providing support should offences/breaches come to light and your company or organisation comes under investigation.
Our Corporate Crime Team can offer proactive support to companies and organisations by:
- Providing advice regarding compliance with statutory obligations and current guidance
- Reviewing your current policies
- Drafting updated policies
- Providing comprehensive and tailored training covering the Corporate Crime Offences.
- Assisting with internal and external investigations
Our team can also provide reactive support if you discover that such an offence may have occurred including:
- Advising you in relation to the internal investigation
- Supporting you with any dawn raid or regulatory investigation pursued claim
- Advising in relation to disclosure, including legal privilege
- Advice and representation at Court
- Delivering strategic and tactical advice regarding decisions and plea
- Press Strategy
- Defending any enforcement action
- Advising on deferred prosecution agreements
- Completed a high-level review of various failure to prevent fraud documents prepared by a client. This included a review of internal scoping documents, and presentations.
- Reviewed, and advised on queries from a client relating to the failure to prevent fraud offence. Advised the client that although the guidance in this area does not necessarily require a separate fraud prevention framework, and policy, it is advisable that to have such documents is best practice.
- Advised a client on how explicit the consequences and disciplinary actions relating to fraud should be articulated. They should be very explicit so that associated persons can better understand the allegations and process involved.
- We encouraged a client to consider reviewing and updating their business continuity plans and implementing fraud related policies so that they provide a response in emergency scenarios (such as where fraud has occurred).
- Advised a client on queries relating to a fraud risk register. Although there is no specific guidance on the risk register being required, it is advisable to have such a fraud risk register because it would help if a matter later ended up in court proceedings (as evidence).
- Advised a client to draft and insert contractual provisions into contracts and / or agreements with vendors to address consequences of fraud breaches.
- Identified gaps in a client’s bank of internal documents prepared on the failure to prevent fraud offence.