By Gillian Sproul on Posted in Brexit,EU Withdrawal Agreement,GT Alert,No-deal BrexitBrexit has driven fault lines through British politics as seen at no time since the 1680s. Fervent ‘leavers’ and fervent ‘remainers’ can be found in both of the main political parties, although most favour various compromise options in between. This is reflected in the composition of the UK Parliament and has resulted in an impasse,… Continue Reading
By Anne-Marie Ottaway, Barry Vitou and Gareth R. Hall on Posted in GT Alert,Serious Fraud Office,White collarOn 30 May 2019 the SFO issued a press release announcing that Carol Ann Hodson, the former director and owner of a company named ALCA Fasteners Ltd (ALCA), pleaded guilty to paying bribes amounting to £300,000 in order to secure contracts worth £12m. The bribes were paid to purchasing manager1 of a German company over the… Continue Reading
By Barry Vitou, Anne-Marie Ottaway and Gareth R. Hall on Posted in cannabis,criminal law,Proceeds of Crime Act,White collarWith the U.S. cannabis market reported to be worth around $10 billion, sales in Canada expected to reach $6.5 billion by 2020, and the UK having recently decriminalised the use of the drug for medicinal purposes, UK-based investors are eyeing the potential for profit from this new business area. Click here to read the full GT… Continue Reading
By Gillian Sproul and Simon Harms on Posted in BrexitToday, 29 March 2019, was planned to be Brexit day: the UK would leave the EU at 23:00 GMT. That plan has had to be abandoned and Brexit day postponed to 12 April 2019. It may be pushed back even further. How did the UK end up here? The UK’s EU withdrawal terms, agreed in… Continue Reading
By Anne-Marie Ottaway on Posted in Bribery Act 2010,Compliance Programs,Corporate,criminal law,Government,White collarIn 2018 the House of Lords announced it would set up an ad hoc Select Committee to conduct a post-legislative review of the Bribery Act 2010. Greenberg Traurig Shareholder Anne-Marie Ottaway was appointed Specialist Advisor to the Committee, which today published the report of its findings. The review confirms that the Bribery Act 2010 is “an… Continue Reading
By Gareth R. Hall, Barry Vitou and Anne-Marie Ottaway on Posted in criminal law,White collarLisa Osofsky, the new director of the UK Serious Fraud Office, says her agency should use insiders and co-operators to bring to life by way of live evidence the document-heavy cases it prosecutes. Speaking to the Commons Justice Committee in December 2018, Ms Osofsky alluded to the slow pace of SFO investigations as one of… Continue Reading
By Gillian Sproul on Posted in Brexit,International Law,International TradeIt is now less than two months until 29 March 2019, the date set for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. At this late stage, the terms of the UK’s withdrawal have still not been settled, and the Brexit issue remains clouded in uncertainty. As a result of a vote in the UK Parliament 29… Continue Reading
By Anne-Marie Ottaway, Barry Vitou and Gareth R. Hall on Posted in criminal law,Tax,tax evasion,White collarThe new offences introduced by the Criminal Finances Act 2017 (the Act), although widely publicised in the months leading up to its commencement, have received little attention since from commentators and, seemingly, the enforcement authorities. The two new offences govern U.K. and non-U.K. tax and are targeted at criminalising a corporate entity or partnership’s (broadly,… Continue Reading
By Gillian Sproul on Posted in Brexit,International Law,International TradeThe EU Court of Justice ruled today, 10 December, that the U.K. can unilaterally withdraw its “Brexit” notification to the EU. The ruling follows the advice of the advocate general to the EU Court last week, that the U.K. should be able to revoke the notification without the consent of the other 27 EU member… Continue Reading
By Gillian Sproul on Posted in Brexit,International LawAdvice given to the EU Court of Justice on Tuesday, 4 December recommends that the Court’s judges rule that the U.K. can withdraw its March 2017 notice of intention to leave the EU without the consent of the other 27 EU member states. The advice also recommends that this unilateral right to withdraw the notice… Continue Reading
By Anne-Marie Ottaway, Barry Vitou and Gareth R. Hall on Posted in criminal law,White collarPart III of our series on asset recovery powers available to UK law enforcement authorities focuses on new powers under the Criminal Finances Act 2017 to obtain orders to freeze bank accounts and apply for forfeiture orders, permanently depriving the account holder of the funds contained in the account. These draconian new powers have received little publicity… Continue Reading
By Gillian Sproul on Posted in Brexit,Government,International Law,International TradeAt their summit on 25 November, the leaders of the EU27 states approved the draft agreement providing for the U.K.’s withdrawal from the EU. The EU and U.K. also issued a joint statement outlining the framework for the post-Brexit EU/U.K. relationship. These developments, although much-awaited, give little legal certainty in the short term. Draft Withdrawal… Continue Reading
By Anne-Marie Ottaway, Barry Vitou and Gareth R. Hall on Posted in White collarIn the first of our two-part series, we looked at Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs). To summarize, UWOs require the recipient to explain how they obtained their wealth/assets, which authorities have reasonable grounds to suspect could not have been with the recipient’s known sources of income. The UWO is the beginning of a journey that can result… Continue Reading
By Greenberg Traurig on Posted in Antitrust Trade & Regulation,White collarBarry Vitou and A. John Pappalardo co-authored an article Lexis®PSL Corporate Crime titled “Statute of Limitations on Bribery—UK and US Perspectives.” This article was first published on Lexis®PSL Corporate Crime on 22 August 2018. To read this article, click here.… Continue Reading
By Greenberg Traurig on Posted in Corporate,M&A,Real EstateLONDON – 6 August 2018 – A multidisciplinary London-based team at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP advised InterContinental Hotels Group plc on its arrangements with French real estate investor Covivio (formerly Foncière des Régions) to rebrand and operate 12 high-quality open hotels and one pipeline hotel in the UK following the acquisition of the… Continue Reading
By Barry Vitou on Posted in White collarRecent statistics show investigators taking a harder line and conducting increasing numbers of searches with the Serious Fraud Office more than tripling the number of searches it conducted in connection with ongoing investigations in the 12 months ended 31, March 2018. Searches by law enforcement investigators, including dawn raids, are inherently intrusive and are often used… Continue Reading
By Greenberg Traurig on Posted in White collarBut raids as part of asset seizure probes fall to zero LONDON – 26 July 2018 – The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launched 30 property raids to gather evidence for its ongoing criminal investigations (i.e. before prosecution takes place) in the previous 12 months year ending March 31. The number is more than triple… Continue Reading
By Barry Vitou on Posted in White collarIn Sir Cliff Richard OBE v. The British Broadcasting Corporation and The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [2018] EWHC 1837 (Ch) a UK court has ruled that the reporting by the BBC of a police investigation (which was later closed without prosecution) into Sir Cliff Richard and televised search of his home using a helicopter flying… Continue Reading
