News & Events
News & Events
Joshua Hitchens was instructed by Janes Solicitors to represent the Defendant in contempt proceedings before Mr Justice Nicklin, who described the case as “a sobering reminder of the obligation on parties’ lawyers to read very carefully and to understand the effects of injunction orders”. The Defendant was subject to an injunction which restricted his use of the Claimant’s documents in proceedings. Contrary to the Claimant’s solicitor’s understanding, the injunction did not prevent the identification of the Claimant. The Defendant was accused of providing an exhibit he had introduced into proceedings to a US attorney who then made use of it in proceedings in the United States. The Claimant brought a contempt application on the basis (1) that the Defendant had…
Business Crime, Disciplinary & Regulatory, News 22 Nov, 2022
Outer Temple Chambers is delighted to announce that longstanding member Michael Bowes QC has been appointed a Circuit Judge, sitting on the Western Circuit from 19 September 2022. On 18th August 2022, it was announced that the Queen has appointed Michael Anthony Bowes QC to be a Circuit Judge on the advice of the Lord Chancellor, the Right Honourable Dominic Raab MP and the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, the Right Honourable The Lord Burnett of Maldon. Circuit Judge Appointment: Bowes The Lord Chief Justice has deployed Michael to the Western Circuit, based at Portsmouth Combined Court Centre with effect from 19 September 2022. He will be known as His Honour Judge Bowes QC. A leading light at…
Business Crime, News 19 Aug, 2022
Michael Bowes QC led the SFO team in its successful prosecution of David Ames, Chairman of Harlequin, who defrauded investors of £226 million in relation to overseas property investments. On 3 August 2022, David Ames was found guilty of two counts of fraud by abuse of position. An SFO (Serious Fraud Office) investigation uncovered how Ames deceived over 8,000 UK investors in the Harlequin Group, a hotel, and resorts development venture. Victims were led to believe they had a secure investment in property whereas, in reality, Harlequin Group was never operating as promised. The business model relied upon investors paying a 30 percent deposit to purchase an unbuilt villa or hotel room, half of which went toward fees for Harlequin…
Business Crime, News 5 Aug, 2022
Oliver Powell will join colleagues from Stewarts and Skadden at the White Collar Crime Forum on 11th May to discuss “Fishing for dirty money – are the latest UK sanctions and economic crime legislation an effective trawler?” Oliver Powell has been invited to join a panel discussion at the 6th White Collar Crime Forum on Wednesday 11th May 2022. The event will be held at K&L Gates, One New Change, London, EC4M 9AF from 4pm. This will be a hybrid event, with the opportunity to join either online or – for the first time since 2019 – face-to-face. This event has been organised by information management experts Open Text. K&L Gates are sponsoring and hosting the event which will consider…
Business Crime, Events, News 5 May, 2022
Stephen Doherty explores some recent cases involving “Quincecare Duty”, which has existed for over thirty years, and what these new precedents mean for modern banking fraud cases. “Quincecare Duty” was established in Barclays Bank plc v Quincecare Ltd [1992] 4 All ER 363, and tells us that a bank or financial institution may be liable for processing a fraudulent transaction if the bank has reasonable grounds for believing that there has been an attempt to defraud its customer. Remarkably, it was not until the Supreme Court handed down judgment in 2019, in Singularis Holdings Ltd (In Official Liquidation) (A Company Incorporated in the Cayman Islands) v Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd [2019] UKSC 50, that a claimant had successfully argued…
Business Crime, Legal Blog & Publications, Commercial, Financial Services 8 Apr, 2022
Chloë Bell and Jeremy Scott-Joynt will be speaking at Crypto Fraud: Leveraging Civil and Criminal Strategies to Recover Crypto Assets forum on 29 November 2021. Chloe Bell and Jeremy Scott-Joynt have been invited to be guest speakers at an international forum focusing on cryptocurrency fraud. The event will be held online from 4pm GMT on Monday, 29th November. The webinar will consider a number of the main issues relating to the rise in crypto-related fraud, including cryptocurrency theft, problems associated with decentralised finance (DeFi) and ransomware attacks. It will also examine the challenges involved in bringing either civil or criminal action in such circumstances. The event has been organised by information management experts Open Text, Outer Temple Chambers and the…
Business Crime Webinars, Business Crime, News, Webinars & Vlogs 24 Nov, 2021
Michael Bowes QC was recently invited to speak as a ‘thought leader’ on economic crime for RUSI, a major UK think tank. The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) is a major British defence and security think tank. They have launched an Economic Crime Plan Thought Leadership Series and in the fourth of this series, Michael argues that many of the right laws and structures are in place to enforce economic crime law, but that more needs to be done to put these into practice effectively. Michael’s thoughts on the UK’s Economic Crime Plan Michael recommended more investment in specialist resources, a refocus on swifter prosecutions, more effective use of civil asset recovery and greater use of…
Business Crime, Business Crime, News 5 Nov, 2021
Alex Haines and Sophie O’Sullivan have been instructed by a US-based law firm to represent an Eastern European engineering firm in relation to its sanctions designation under UK legislation and regulation. This is one of the first sanctions challenges to operate within the UK’s new and autonomous statutory framework. From 1st January 2021, the UK was no longer required to implement EU sanctions and the new UK sanctions legislation officially came into force under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA). SAMLA provides the UK with a domestic statutory framework of powers, which enable it to continue to meet its international obligations under the UN Charter to implement UN sanctions law directly in the UK. Put simply, SAMLA fills…
Business Crime, News 21 Apr, 2021
On Tuesday 16th March at 3pm, Michael Bowes QC will be chairing a webinar on how the global sanctions and anti-money laundering scene might develop following the election of President Biden. This webinar is a collaboration with Guidepost and UK Finance. This panel brings together experts on sanctions, anti-money laundering and cybercrime from the US and UK. Each panelist is deeply experienced in investigations, enforcement and effective teamwork. Together they will explore how a US/UK axis under President Biden can re-set the dial on global controls and make them work. Topics to be discussed: • The Biden/Harris agenda: Is the UK on board? • Working with governments and corporates: Can it be done? • Effective teamwork • Using technology to counter…
News 2 Mar, 2021
Fiona Horlick QC and Jeremy Scott-Joynt contributed to Issue 7 of the Public Sector Counter Fraud Journal with their article titled “What we tell ourselves: how stories can encourage bribery – and prevent it?” Fiona and Jeremy consider the Bribery Act and the proper test of what’s improper or not according to Sections 4 and 5 of the Bribery Act. The article analyses how the types of conduct under examination could breach a “relevant expectation” about how the duty in question should be performed; and the definition of “what a reasonable person in the UK would expect in relation to the performance of the type of function or activity concerned”. This issue also contains articles from the Centre for the…
Business Crime, Legal Blog & Publications 8 Feb, 2021
Outer Temple is pleased to announce that Nick Johnson QC and Sophie O’Sullivan have been appointed to the Serious Fraud Office’s Panels of Counsel. Nick Johnson QC has been appointed to the SFO QC Prosecution Panel and Sophie O’Sullivan to the Proceeds of Crime B Panel of Counsel. The appointments are effective from 31 December for four years. The appointment flows from Nick and Sophie’s broad experience of civil and criminal fraud, business crime, asset tracing, financial regulation and injunctive relief cases, and will complement their existing practice in those areas. Find out more Nick Johnson QC specialises in complex financial and business crime disputes, together with cross-over regulatory and civil work. He is ranked as a leading Silk Band 1 for Financial Crime by Chambers & Partners 2021, described…
Business Crime, News 6 Jan, 2021
Dr Ali Almihdar authored chapter 31 of Lissack & Horlick on Bribery and Corruption. Ali’s new chapter focuses on the scale of corruption in the Middle East and the major challenges it presents. As part of a serialisation of chapters that members of Outer Temple contributed to in this latest edition, the authors have been summarising their chapters every week. This Chapter is designed to provide a survey of one of the most lamentable traits in human behaviour. The geographical area that it is meant to cover is what is the Middle East and more specifically the Gulf Cooperation Council States. Its temporal span starts from before the advent of the religion of Islam in the Arabian peninsula to today’s…
Business Crime, Legal Blog & Publications, News 9 Dec, 2020
