The Bribery Act: To Disclose or Not To Disclose?
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
In this article, we examine the potential impact on organisations managing global supply chains of the recent Court of Appeal judgement in the case against the National Crime Agency (NCA) brought by the World Uyghur Congress...more
In a landmark ruling, the Court of Appeal in a case brought by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) has clarified that the provision of “adequate consideration” at some point in the supply chain does not prevent goods imported...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
On 27 June 2024, the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in World Uyghur Congress v National Crime Agency [2024] EWCA Civ 715. The challenge of a 2023 decision by the High Court was brought by World Uyghur Congress ("WUC")...more
Recent weeks have seen several notable developments in the UK criminal enforcement landscape...more
Designed for busy in-house counsel, compliance professionals, and anti-corruption lawyers, this newsletter summarizes some of the most important international anti-corruption law and enforcement developments from the past...more
U.S. Companies Announce Crypto Cashback and NFT Ticketing Initiatives - According to recent reports, a major U.S. credit card company has partnered with Swoo, a mobile wallet blending traditional and crypto payments, to...more
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) introduces two new "pay away" exemptions to the principal money laundering offences in sections 327, 328 and 329 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA)....more
This Note is the second part of our look at regulatory expectations for sanctions compliance in the U.K. The first part of our review looked at Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) systems and controls requirements. The focus...more
A recent English court ruling has shed light on the approach of UK enforcement authorities to the question of money laundering risks where there is potential forced labour / modern slavery in a supply chain. The ruling will...more
Firms that act as financial gate-keepers have obligations to report suspicions or knowledge of money laundering via Suspicious Activity Reports to the National Crime Agency ("NCA"). SARs have been filed for almost 20 years...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
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 our Quarterly Review, we bring you important UK developments relating to business crime, investigations, and regulatory enforcement from the last three months. With this month marking half a year since the UK left the EU,...more
On 8 April 2020, the High Court discharged three Unexplained Wealth Orders (“UWOs”) relating to multi-million pound London homes allegedly purchased with the proceeds of crime. In its judgment, the High Court criticised the...more
Organization Excels at Niche Branding but Stumbles in Avoiding Enforcement - The first paragraph of the press release sums it up: Today the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action...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
Lonsdale v National Westminster Bank [2018] EWHC 1843 (QB) (18 July 2018) - A bank was ordered to disclose, to a customer, suspicious activity reports (SARs) that the bank had sent to the National Crime Agency (NCA) at the...more
On 7 February 2019, the UK National Crime Agency (“NCA”) announced that it had, for the first time, successfully used its powers of account freezing orders (“AFOs”) to forfeit over £400,000 from three UK bank accounts...more
The UK National Crime Agency (“NCA”) has successfully resisted a challenge to the issue of its first Unexplained Wealth Orders (“UWOs”). The victory comes shortly after the agency announced its intention to expand the use of...more
A number of very significant changes are being made to the UK anti-money laundering regime. Of particular interest to the private equity industry will be the proposed new criminal offence of failure to prevent the...more