News & Events

Business Crime, Regulation & Sanctions

Corporate Fraud in the Covid-19 Crisis – Guidance Note

Nick Johnson QC and Sophie O’Sullivan look at corporate fraud in the Covid-19 crisis, the changing risks and how to protect your business. The UK Government’s coronavirus (Covid-19) response has had profound effects on every business sector. The UK is on “lockdown”. Corporations and businesses, whose activities are underpinned by technologies such as verified transactions, encrypted communications and secure server networks, are having to find ways to conduct their core functions remotely, separated from colleagues and support departments, in circumstances where each person is, generally, unmonitored. There are very few – if any – corporate entities that had the practical and technological infrastructures in place prior to this crisis taking hold, which would have enabled them to adapt seamlessly to…

Covid-19 2 Apr, 2020

Alex Haines talks on US Sanctions and EU Blocking Statute

Business Crime and Regulation specialist, Alex Haines, gives a webinar to 150 members of the finance and business industries on US sanctions and the EU Blocking Statute. On 19 March 2020, Alex Haines, member of Outer Temple Chambers’ Business Crime and Regulation Team, gave a webinar to a 150 participants from an array of different industry (including HSBC, Allianz, Nasdaq and Michelin) on US sanctions and the EU Blocking Statute. The Blocking Statute The webinar, titled ‘The Blocking Statute: Deciphering its Provisions, How to Handle the US/EU Conflict, and Actions to Date’ , was organised by the Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists (“ACSS”). It covered: The history and aims of the Blocking Statute The four mechanisms of the Blocking Statute Temporal…

News 24 Mar, 2020

Jeremy Scott-Joynt successful in defeating £550,000 account freezing order

Jeremy Scott-Joynt has secured the release of more than half a million pounds in a client’s UK bank account frozen by HM Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”). In late 2019, HMRC had successfully applied (without notice, as is usual) to a magistrate’s court for an Account Freezing Order (“AFO”) over the account, which contained some £550,000. Once the client had been notified that the AFO was in place, his solicitors contacted Jeremy for help. Full details of the AFO regime can be found in this article by Outer Temple’s Oliver Powell and others. In short, AFOs are a relatively new weapon in law enforcement’s AML armoury, having been added to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Part 5, Chapter 3B, sections…

News 6 Mar, 2020

Launch of the fourth edition of Global Investigations Review – The Practitioner’s Guide to International Investigations

Outer Temple Chambers was delighted to support Michael Bowes QC at the launch of the fourth edition of the Global Investigations Review (GIR) – The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations. The launch event took place on 13th February at The Royal Horseguards Hotel and was attended by key practitioners in this field. Outer Temple Chambers were proud to sponsor the event. Michael Bowes QC is co-editor of the work together with Judith Seddon and Ama Adams at Ropes & Gray, Eleanor Davidson at Fountain Court Chambers and Christopher Morvillo, Luke Tolaini and Tara McGrath at Clifford Chance. Since its launch in 2016, the guide has expanded immensely and currently comprises two volumes. The fourth edition features a breakdown of every stage in…

External Publications 19 Feb, 2020

Robert Rhodes QC speaks at Dubai Arbitration Summit on adequate procedures defence under Bribery Act 2010

Robert Rhodes QC will be speaking later this month in Dubai at the Legalplus Dubai & MENA 7th International Arbitration & Corporate Crime Summit. He will be moderating a session on managing cross-border investigations and speaking on “adequate procedures” as a defence under the Bribery Act 2010. The full agenda for this event can be viewed here.

News 15 Jan, 2020

Michael Bowes QC is instructed by the SFO in fraud charges against former Serco directors

The Serious Fraud Office has charged two individuals with fraud and false accounting in relation to its investigation into Serco’s electronic monitoring contract with the Ministry of Justice. Nicholas Woods, former Finance Director of Serco Home Affairs, and Simon Marshall, former Operations Director of Field Services within Serco, have been charged with fraud by false representation and false accounting in relation to representations made to the Ministry of Justice between 2011 and 2013. Nicholas Woods is additionally charged with false accounting in relation to the 2011 statutory accounts of Serco Geografix Ltd. This follows the SFO’s completion of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with Serco Group subsidiary Serco Geografix Ltd, which was approved by Mr Justice William Davis on 4th…

News 17 Dec, 2019

Economic Sanctions Chapter published in OUP’s Smith, Owen, and Bodnar on Asset Recovery

Amanda Pinto QC (33 Chancery Lane and Chair of the Bar of England and Wales 2020) and Alex Haines (Outer Temple Chambers) have co-written a chapter on Economic Sanctions in Oxford University Press’ Smith, Owen, and Bodnar on Asset Recovery – Criminal Confiscation and Civil Recovery. The new chapter examines the sources of sanctions law and the implementation of sanctions as well as the practical application of sanctions breaches in the UK. Of particular relevance given the UK’s imminent departure from the EU is the analysis of the recent UK legislation: the Policing and Crime Act 2017 and the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018. The book covers the expanding law and practice of asset recovery in the UK, European,…

News 17 Dec, 2019

Outer Temple Chambers welcomes three new barristers

We are delighted to announce that Justina Stewart, Nick Johnson QC and Sophie O’Sullivan have joined Outer Temple Chambers, providing strong additions to our Commercial and Business Crime teams. Justina Stewart is a commercial and chancery barrister, with a particular focus on banking, financial services, regulatory, company, insolvency, civil fraud and business crime, and related professional negligence. Justina works in the UK and internationally. Ranked as a Leading Junior in Banking and Finance and Insolvency, Justina has been described in the directories as “a force to be reckoned with” who is “far more financially literate than most barristers”. Before coming to the Bar, Justina was an international investment banker, working with top-ranked corporate finance teams on complex transactions, predominantly in…

News 29 Nov, 2019

Michael Bowes QC speaking at AMLP’s 8th Annual Anti-Bribery & Corruption Forum

Michael Bowes QC has been invited by the AMLP Forum, the financial crime and corruption association, to speak at its Annual Anti-Bribery and Corruption Forum in London. The Forum is to be held on the 17-18th October 2019, Exchange House, City of London. The cross-industry Forum brings together leading stakeholders to examine the latest international and local anti-bribery & corruption (ABC) regulatory & law enforcement strategies and evolving best compliance practices. Michael will speak on ‘The Global anti-corruption risk map – latest trends, challenges and priorities’ Andrew will speak on the panel alongside panel member Patrick Moulette, Head of Anti-Corruption Division, OECD. The forum will feature panels of leading experts who will examine and provide essential updates on: G20/B20 new…

News 9 Oct, 2019

John McKendrick QC and Alex Haines strengthen OTC links to Latin America

John McKendrick QC and Alex Haines will be in Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico and Colombia between 28th August and 5th September 2019. At the Invitation of Nicaragua’s largest law firm, Consortium Legal, Alex and John will speak at a seminar at the Hotel Crowne Plaza in Managua on 30 August 2019.  The seminar will focus on the impact of international sanctions on Nicaragua and Venezuela and will cover (i) how sanctions work (with particular emphasis on US/OFAC sanctions); (ii) the Nicaragua Act 2018; (iii) how to challenge US and EU sanctions; and (iv) how to manage the risk of sanctions in business and private sector implementation.  The seminar will take place in Spanish and will be moderated by Rodrigo Taboada, partner…

News 28 Aug, 2019

Serco DPA puts individuals, and corporate parental responsibility, in the spotlight

The possibility of individual prosecutions of senior executives for corporate white-collar crime has arisen once more as a result of a Deferred Prosecution Agreement reached between a subsidiary of multinational outsourcing specialist Serco Group plc (Serco Group) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The DPA, the fifth to be agreed in the UK, also heralds the likelihood that in future parent companies may be expected not just to take responsibility for wayward subsidiaries, but may need to extend remediation group-wide if a DPA is to be in the public interest. SGL agreed to pay a fine of £19.2 million, and the SFO’s costs of £3.7 million. Serco agreed to implement wide-ranging compliance changes across not just SGL but the entire…

News 4 Jul, 2019

Michael Bowes QC acts for Serious Fraud Office in Serco Deferred Prosecution Agreement

Michael Bowes QC has been acting for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in relation to the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) agreed with Serco Geografix Limited (SGL), which was approved by Mr Justice William Davis at Southwark Crown Court on 4 July 2019. The DPA followed SGL self-reporting to the SFO. The undertakings given by Serco Group plc broke new ground in the development of DPAs. Mr Justice William Davis stated in his judgment, “Without the undertakings given by the parent company it is very unlikely that the goals of a DPA could have been achieved in the circumstances of this case. This is the first occasion on which undertakings of the kind made by Serco Group PLC have been by…

News 3 Jul, 2019

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