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Serious Fraud Office (SFO) Criminal Prosecution United Kingdom

Mayer Brown

Eye on Economic Crime: HMRC Brings Forward First Corporate Prosecution Under Failure to Prevent Tax Evasion Offence

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On 11 August 2025, HM Revenue & Customs ("HMRC") initiated its first corporate prosecution under the failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion offence, which was introduced by the Criminal Finances Act 2017.  Bennett...more

K&L Gates LLP

UK CPS and SFO Issue Updated Corporate Prosecution Guidance: What Corporates Need to Know

K&L Gates LLP on

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) have jointly updated their Corporate Prosecutions Guidance (the Guidance), providing clarification on their expectations for organisations in relation to...more

Ropes & Gray LLP

UK Authorities Revamp Joint Corporate Prosecution Guidance

Ropes & Gray LLP on

On 18 August 2025, the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced the updated version of the joint guidance in relation to the prosecution of corporate entities (the “Guidance”). The...more

WilmerHale

UK Failure to Prevent Fraud Offence to Come into Force - Is Your Organisation Prepared?

WilmerHale on

The new strict liability corporate criminal offence of Failure to Prevent Fraud (FTPF) comes into effect in England and Wales on 1 September 2025. ...more

Hogan Lovells

CPS and SFO publish joint corporate prosecutions guidance – what it means for UK corporates

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The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Serious Fraud Office (SFO) have overhauled their Corporate Prosecutions guidance – clarifying how prosecutors will handle charges, forum and case strategy going forward. The previous...more

White & Case LLP

SFO expands its collaborative remit

White & Case LLP on

The Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") is in a robust, and collaborative, mood. Three months after jointly announcing the formation of a new International Anti-Corruption Prosecutorial Taskforce (the "Taskforce"), the UK's premier...more

WilmerHale

New SFO Guidance Unlikely to Drive Increase in Self-Reporting of Corporate Wrongdoing

WilmerHale on

On April 24, 2025, the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) released new guidance to encourage companies to self-report suspected corporate wrongdoing. The guidance emphasises that prompt self-reporting combined with full...more

White & Case LLP

A new sheriff in town? No time for complacency as the US pauses anti-corruption enforcement

White & Case LLP on

A new anti-bribery and corruption alliance among enforcement authorities in the UK, France and Switzerland sends a clear message to corporates that any pause in enforcement of the US FCPA does not mean that acts of bribery by...more

White & Case LLP

First unexplained wealth order may provide a welcome boost for the Serious Fraud Office

White & Case LLP on

When they were introduced in 2017, Unexplained Wealth Orders ("UWOs") were hailed as an important new law enforcement tool, which would allow more robust and effective investigation of the suspected proceeds of crime....more

Alston & Bird

The Wait Is (Almost) Over: The UK’s “Failure to Prevent Fraud” Guidance Is Here, and the Offense Itself Is Not Far Behind

Alston & Bird on

Our White Collar, Government & Internal Investigations Team discusses the UK’s new guidance on the “failure to prevent fraud” offense. The guidance addresses the “failure to prevent fraud” offense created by the Economic...more

K&L Gates LLP

How the Serious Fraud Office's Ambitious Five-Year Strategy Will Impact Businesses

K&L Gates LLP on

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) recently published its new five-year strategy for 2024-2029 (the Strategy), setting out its ambitious aspirations to become a “pre-eminent specialist, innovative and collaborative agency which...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

UK Criminal Liability Alert: Safeguarding Companies Operating in the UK From the Actions of Their Employees

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

New criminal laws in the UK will make companies more vulnerable to criminal prosecution for the acts of their employees and agents than ever before. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (“ECCTA”) introduces...more

WilmerHale

UK Criminal Enforcement Update - Spring 2024

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Recent weeks have seen several notable developments in the UK criminal enforcement landscape...more

Hogan Lovells

UK SFO launches Strategy 2024-2029

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On 18 April 2024, the SFO announced that it had launched its Strategy 2024-2029, setting out its direction, values, approach and goals over the next five years. A bold, victims-centred approach The Strategy can be found...more

WilmerHale

‘One eye across the Atlantic’ - The UK SFO Director’s Maiden Speech and Recent Visits to the United States Underscore the...

WilmerHale on

The Director of the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Nick Ephgrave QPM, delivered his maiden public speech on February, 13, 2024, closely followed by visits to key financial centres in the United States to meet with...more

Hogan Lovells

New SFO Director promises a bolder, more pragmatic approach to the fight against economic crime

Hogan Lovells on

On 13 February 2024, Nick Ephgrave gave his first public speech as Director of the Serious Fraud Office, to a packed room of white collar lawyers and press at the Royal United Services Institute. The new Director was bold and...more

WilmerHale

New SFO Pre-Investigation Powers Come into Force

WilmerHale on

On 15 January 2024, legislation came into force that enhances the Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO) compulsory information-gathering powers and streamlines the investigative process whilst imposing fresh obligations on companies...more

WilmerHale

SFO Director Nick Ephgrave: The First 100 Days

WilmerHale on

The new SFO Director, Nick Ephgrave QPM, marks his first 100 days in post this month after succeeding Lisa Osofsky in September 2023. Ephgrave has overseen a dynamic start to his tenure with the announcement of three new...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

Food for Thought: Individuals Remain in SFO’s Sights as Four From Patisserie Valerie Charged With Fraud

Latham & Watkins LLP on

Individuals continue to face risk from prosecutions for economic crime, despite media focus on corporate criminal liability reforms. Four individuals have today appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with fraud...more

WilmerHale

Sanctions, Fraud is Coming to Town: 2022 in Review

WilmerHale on

In 2022, the UK was forced to reckon with the charge of being soft on economic crime and being the destination of choice for kleptocrats seeking to launder their ill-gotten funds. No longer able to turn a blind eye to these...more

Hogan Lovells

New economic crime and corporate transparency bill: All bark and no bite?

Hogan Lovells on

Thursday 13 October 2022 saw the second reading of the draft Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, containing a raft of different measures including new and expanded powers for Companies House, the SFO and the NCA....more

BCLP

Fallout from the Glencore resolutions & lessons learned

BCLP on

On 24 May 2022, Glencore International AG announced a series of coordinated resolutions with various international enforcements agencies including the Department of Justice (”DOJ”), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission...more

WilmerHale

Bribery Act 2010: Ten Years On

WilmerHale on

Ten years have passed since the introduction of the UK’s primary anti-corruption law, the Bribery Act 2010 (“the Act”). This article examines the extent to which the Act has lived up to its billing as the international “gold...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

New Limits to the UK SFO's Ability to Compel Production of Evidence from Overseas May Lead to Increase in DOJ Investigations

On February 5, 2021, in a unanimous decision, the UK Supreme Court held that the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) did not have the authority under Section 2(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 (the 1987 Act) to compel a foreign...more

Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics...

UK Serious Fraud Office releases DPA guidance

CEP Magazine (January 2021) - The United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office published new guidance related to deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs). The guidance, nested in the office’s internal SFO Operational Handbook,...more

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