The Crime and Policing Bill 2025, published by the UK Government on February 25, 2025, proposes extending the new ‘senior manager’ test of corporate criminal attribution to all criminal offences, not just economic crime...more
4/1/2025
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Liability ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cross-Border ,
Legislative Agendas ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Reform ,
UK ,
White Collar Crimes
We distil key practical takeaways from the UK Government’s official guidance on the corporate criminal offence of failure to prevent fraud (the Guidance).
Businesses and compliance teams will be working to review and...more
11/27/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Governance ,
Due Diligence ,
Fraud ,
Fraud Prevention ,
Mergers ,
New Guidance ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
UK ,
White Collar Crimes
The UK Government has finally published its official guidance on the corporate criminal offence of failure to prevent fraud (the Guidance). The offence will come into force on 1 September 2025. By then, businesses that fall...more
The new failure to prevent fraud offence and new ‘senior manager’ attribution test for corporate criminal liability contained in the Economic Crime and Transparency Act 2023 are relevant to private equity firms for two key...more
The UK government is already proposing further expansion to the basis on which companies can be fixed with criminal liability.
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA), passed in October, significantly...more
12/6/2023
/ Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Entities ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Criminal Liability ,
Financial Crimes ,
Fraud ,
Investigations ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) ,
UK
The new Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (the Act) is the latest step in the UK Government’s attempts to address economic crime and improve transparency over corporate entities. Whilst most of the key...more
10/30/2023
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Entities ,
Corporate Fraud ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Liability ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Crimes ,
Investigations ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
UK
As part of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, there are two new 'pay-away' exceptions to the need for a firm in the regulated sector to file a Defence against Money Laundering -
Previously a firm in...more
10/27/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Enforcement ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Authority ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Money Laundering ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
UK
Where a criminal offence requires proof of a specific mental state, or ‘mens rea’ (such as intent, recklessness or dishonesty), previously a company could only be found guilty if an individual who represented the company’s...more
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 was granted Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. It contains a new ‘failure to prevent fraud’ corporate criminal offence which will render large companies liable for fraud...more
10/26/2023
/ Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Entities ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure to Prevent ,
Financial Crimes ,
Fraud ,
Investigations ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
UK ,
UK Bribery Act ,
White Collar Crimes
A draft ‘failure to prevent fraud’ corporate criminal offence will render large companies liable for fraud committed by their associates. We consider the draft offence and implications for businesses....more
9/13/2023
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Investigations ,
Corporate Officers ,
Criminal Liability ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Failure to Prevent ,
Fraud ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Shareholders ,
UK ,
UK Bribery Act ,
UK Corporate Criminal Offense ,
White Collar Crimes
A draft ‘failure to prevent fraud’ corporate criminal offence will render large companies liable for fraud committed by their associates. We consider the draft offence and implications for businesses....more
9/6/2023
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Investigations ,
Corporate Officers ,
Criminal Liability ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Failure to Prevent ,
Fraud ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Shareholders ,
UK ,
UK Bribery Act ,
UK Corporate Criminal Offense ,
White Collar Crimes
Last Thursday, the government publicised its intention to use the Economic Crime Bill to significantly expand corporate criminal liability through reform of the ‘identification doctrine’. This is the English law rule on how...more
In the House of Lords yesterday evening the Government confirmed that it intends to propose a new ‘failure to prevent’ corporate criminal offence to be inserted into the Economic Crime Bill. We consider the backdrop to this...more
Last Friday the UK Law Commission published its long awaited ‘options paper’ on corporate criminal liability reform. While the lengthy report (and criticisms already being directed at it) will need to be digested further, we...more