On 24 April 2025, the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) published new guidance for companies on cooperation and enforcement in relation to corporate criminal offending (Guidance). The Guidance outlines the SFO’s key...more
On February 11, 2025, Transparency International (TI) published its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2024. TI observes that corruption remains “a dangerous problem in every part of the world, but change for the...more
2/12/2025
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Asia Pacific ,
Australia ,
Bribery ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corruption ,
Corruption Perceptions Index ,
Foreign Investment ,
India ,
Indonesia ,
Japan ,
Popular ,
Transparency International
Singapore and England & Wales have longstanding reputations as arbitration-friendly jurisdictions. Where parties have entered into an arbitration agreement but one party nonetheless commences court litigation over a claim...more
1/8/2025
/ Anti-Suit Injunctions ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Dispute Resolution ,
International Arbitration ,
Jurisdiction ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Singapore ,
Third-Party ,
UK
Headlines -
•The UK government has published its guidance on the new Failure to Prevent Fraud offence which will come into effect on 1 September 2025.
•Similar to the UK Bribery Act, the provisions introduced by the Economic...more
11/8/2024
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Due Diligence ,
Failure to Prevent ,
Financial Crimes ,
Fraud ,
Fraud Prevention ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
UK
Over the Summer, the Singapore International Commercial Court (“SICC”) issued a landmark decision in In Re No Va Land Investment Group Corp [2024] SGHC(I) 17, authored by International Judge (and MoFo alum) James Michael...more
10/9/2024
/ Arbitration ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Cross-Border ,
Default ,
Economic Downturn ,
Financial Distress ,
Insolvency ,
Jurisdiction ,
Residential Real Estate Market ,
Singapore ,
Singapore International Commercial Court ,
Vietnam
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) published its strategy for 2024–2029 on 18 April 2024, outlining its ambitious plans to become the “pre-eminent specialist, innovative and collaborative agency” in the fight against serious...more
On 13 February 2024, Nick Ephgrave gave his inaugural public speech as the new Director of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO). With a background in law enforcement, including as assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan...more
On January 30, 2024, Transparency International (TI) published its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2023. The 2023 CPI suggests there has been limited progress in the global fight against corruption, with TI...more
2/8/2024
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
China ,
Corruption ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Indonesia ,
Malaysia ,
Money Laundering ,
Supply Chain ,
Transparency International ,
White Collar Crimes
Headlines-
• The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (the “Act”) is part of a wide legislative package to prevent abuse of UK corporate structures and tackle economic crime and received Royal Assent on 26 October...more
10/30/2023
/ CEOs ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Criminal Liability ,
Failure to Prevent ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Markets ,
Fraud ,
Impact Assessments ,
Ministry of Justice ,
Senior Managers ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
UK ,
UK Bribery Act
In recent weeks, the use of encrypted messaging applications for business purposes has returned to the spotlight. In July 2023, legal challenges surrounding the disclosure of messages on devices used by former Prime Minister...more
9/5/2023
/ Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) ,
Confidential Information ,
Data Recording ,
Disclosure ,
Encryption ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Integrity Policies ,
Money Laundering ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
UK
The UK government has tabled an amendment to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill so as to introduce a “failure to prevent” fraud offence. Details in the amended bill provide the greatest clarity to date of the...more
In a recent decision, the English High Court has demonstrated its willingness to interpret contractual provisions broadly so as to enable performance in circumstances where the imposition of sanctions on a counterparty...more
The Singapore High Court recently ruled that a party to a Singapore law-governed contract was justified in relying on a sanctions clause in the contract to refuse payment to the counterparty in an effort to avoid breaching...more
On January 31, 2023, Transparency International (TI) published its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2022. As in recent years, the 2022 CPI demonstrates that more must be done to combat corruption globally – with...more
The UK government has proposed new registration requirements for foreign influence activities in the UK as part of its attempts to strengthen the resilience of the UK’s political system and democratic institutions against...more
On 13 July 2022, the National Economic Crime Centre, a multi-agency unit in the National Crime Agency (NCA), and the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, working in conjunction with law enforcement and financial...more
On 25 April 2022, in collaboration with the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, the Financial Reporting Council (“FRC”) published a report on Modern Slavery Reporting Practices in the UK (the “Report”). ...more
As the world watches in horror as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to unfold, the UK, as well as its allies and partners, has introduced a number of sanctions and trade restrictions in response. In this Quarterly...more
4/28/2022
/ Bribery ,
Central Bank of Russia ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Memorandum of Understanding ,
NCSC ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
Sanctions ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
UK ,
Ukraine
At a time when sanctions are very much in the spotlight, the UK government has proposed amendments to its sanctions regime in order to introduce a ‘strict civil liability’ test for sanctions breaches....more
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK government has brought forward legislation that aims to crack down on foreign owners laundering dirty money through UK property and make it easier for law enforcement...more
The UK government has widened the scope of its Russia sanctions regulations in anticipation of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The amendments to the existing Russia sanctions regulations significantly broaden the definition of...more
On January 25, 2022, Transparency International (TI) published its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2021.[1] Similar to previous years’ indices, the CPI 2021 demonstrates that corruption levels, including in the...more
In the final Quarterly Review of 2021, we reflect on a year that has seen the UK acclimatise to life outside of the EU, whilst, like the rest of the world, contending with the difficulties brought on by the global coronavirus...more
12/15/2021
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Bribery ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Credit Suisse ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Fraud ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Sanctions ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
In the latest turn of events in the seemingly never-ending political saga of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the U.S. House of Representatives (the “House”), via an amendment to the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act...more
10/7/2021
/ CAATSA ,
Foreign Entities ,
Germany ,
Joe Biden ,
National Interest Waiver ,
NDAA ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Pipelines ,
Russia ,
Sanctions ,
Trump Administration ,
US State Departments
During the course of the last three months, there has been a significant focus on the activity of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The SFO has achieved its objectives in some instances; see, for example, our article below...more