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
2023 saw a raft of UK law reforms concerning economic crime and continued scrutiny of business risk concerning human rights and greenwashing. This is reflected in the blogs our subscribers were most interested in reading in...more
1/11/2024
/ Climate Change ,
Criminal Liability ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenwashing ,
Human Rights ,
Modern Slavery Act ,
New Regulations ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Risk Management ,
Supply Chain ,
UK
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
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
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
The UK Government has published a draft ‘failure to prevent fraud’ corporate criminal offence rendering large companies liable for fraud committed by their associates. We consider the draft offence and implications for...more
Following an intense and lengthy period of speculation, on 8 February 2023 the UK Government confirmed the introduction of a new “failure to prevent” corporate criminal offence. The new offence will be introduced by way of...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
The long-awaited Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act received royal assent this morning, after having been fast tracked through the UK Parliament. Here are the key reforms of relevance to businesses....more
The UK Government has asked the Law Commission to review the law on corporate criminal liability and propose options for reform. Supporters of reform will use recent failures of the UK Serious Fraud Office to prosecute large...more
The UK Law Commission is considering whether corporate criminal liability law should be reformed and two weeks ago MPs proposed a new economic crime corporate offence to be included in the Financial Services Bill. What is the...more
The law and practice relating to financial crime and investigations is evolving fast. In the past 18 months we have seen two new Acts aimed at combatting financial crime (including the creation of two new corporate criminal...more