The Bribery Act: To Disclose or Not To Disclose?
On 10 July 2025, the UK raised the threshold below which certain regulated firms can perform acts that would otherwise constitute a money laundering offence. The new threshold is £3,000. This is the second rise in the...more
The National Crime Agency (NCA) and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have jointly published a set of nine system priorities to combat economic crime in the UK, in line with the UK's second Economic Crime Plan and the...more
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) only catches substantive money laundering acts committed in the UK. This simplifies the assessment for companies when considering whether to file a report...more
Quicker and easier sharing of customer information relating to economic crime concerns between firms in the UK financial sector has been encouraged by provisions in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023...more
The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) recently secured its first forfeiture of sanctioned funds. This was a landmark achievement for the NCA’s Combatting Kleptocracy Cell, which has only existed since 2022 and aims to...more
The recent ruling by the U.K. Court of Appeal declared that the U.K. National Crime Agency’s decision not to investigate the importation of cotton produced through the use of Uyghur forced labor in China was unlawful. This...more
Introduction - The art market is characterised by high-value, portable items that can be bought and exchanged quickly and often confidentially. These features, which make the market inherently vulnerable to many types of...more
In a landmark case last month, a businessman linked to notorious criminals surrendered £10 million in property, land, cash and other assets at the conclusion of an unexplained wealth order (UWO). This was the first successful...more
The Law Commission has published its much anticipated report on reform of the UK's anti-money laundering and terrorism financing regime, and in particular of the system of suspicious activity reports ("SARs"). The proposed...more
The National Crime Agency’s use of the Unexplained Wealth Order regime has also created high profile headlines exposing lavish spending habits of individuals whose wealth is unexplained. It is this political focus, along with...more
Canada legalised recreational cannabis in October 2018 and it may be that other countries follow suit. UK and US investors, and those who facilitate investments in legal recreational cannabis businesses overseas, need to be...more