This piece, produced by Tamara Oppenheimer QC and Simon Paul includes updates on recent cases in the commercial crime field, including in relation to:

  • Financial Conduct Authority – major sentence: A summary of the sentencing remarks from R (Financial Conduct Authority) v National Westminster Bank Plc, following its guilty plea in respect of failures to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007, resulting in a fine of over £260 million. This case represents the first criminal conviction of a bank under the Regulations.
  • Serious Fraud Office – appeal against conviction due to disclosure failings: Consideration of R v Akle (Ziad) [2021] EWCA Crim 1879, the successful appeal against conviction for bribery by an individual alleged to have conspired with Unaoil to bribe officials in Iraq.
  • Proprietary claims and confiscation proceedings: A summary of Aquila Advisory Ltd v Faichney & Ors (CPS Intervening) [2021] 1 WLR 5666, in which the Supreme Court upheld a decision that the assignee of a company through which a fraud resulting in secret profits was conducted was entitled to assert its proprietary claim over those secret profits in priority to confiscation proceedings arising from the conviction of the individual controllers of the company.
  • Criminal restraint orders and civil freezing injunctions: Analysis of the decision in AA v BB [2021] 1 WLR 5378, whereby the Court of Appeal held that the existence of a criminal restraint order does not in general mean that there is no risk of dissipation regarding the restrained assets, for the purposes of a civil freezing injunction application.
  • Private prosecution costs from central funds: Consideration of R (TM Eye Ltd) v Southampton Crown Court [2021] EWHC 2624 (Admin) concerning the circumstances in which it is appropriate to award a private prosecutor costs from central funds.
  • Account freezing orders and privacy: The decision of the Divisional Court in R (Javadov) v Westminster Magistrates’ Court [2021] EWCA Civ 2751 (Admin), concerning whether the Court should sit in private when hearing applications for account freezing orders 

Click here to read the full update.

This piece was originally produced for our Quarterly Commercial Crime Newsletter. If you would like to sign up for this going forward, please contact marketing@fountaincourt.co.uk.