Lisa Osofsky to step down as SFO director in August 2023 November 9, 2022 Lisa Osofsky is set to leave her position as director of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in August 2023 after completing a five-year stint at the fraud investigation agency. Osofsky told staff she will serve her full tenure before leaving the agency, according to an internal message sent out by the SFO chief. In [...]
Serious Fraud Office to call for overhaul of disclosure regime following trial issues September 4, 2022 THE UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is pushing for the UK’s current disclosure framework to be reformed and brought into the 21st century, City A.M. has learned. The head of the fraud agency, Lisa Osofsky, is expected to use a speech in Cambridge tomorrow to call for an overhaul of the current disclosure regime, which [...]
City Exclusive – SFO’s ‘unique skillset’ will be needed to tackle UK’s worsening fraud epidemic, Lisa Osofsky says September 2, 2022 The director of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has said the agency’s skillset will be needed to combat the mounting levels of increasingly complex and high-value frauds facing the UK’s court system. The letter comes in response to reports in this paper showing the number of fraud cases reaching the UK Crown Courts dropped [...]
Letters: Never-ending tide of fraud September 2, 2022 [RE: Fraud crackdown stalled by record court wait times] I read with interest – but not surprise – that the value of fraud cases heard in courts has significantly risen in 2022, particularly in high-value fraud cases. I would add two points to your commentary. Behind the rising trial numbers lie human stories, with victims [...]
Cayman Islands fund manager convicted over role in £100m ‘no win, no fee’ investment fraud August 10, 2022 The founder of a Cayman Islands investment fund, that bankrolled ‘no win, no fee’ lawsuits, has been convicted of using a complex network of overseas trust to defraud investors of millions. Timothy Schools, investment manager at the Cayman Islands headquartered Axiom Legal Financing Fund, used investors cash to fund his luxury lifestyle, that saw [...]
Glencore pays $1bn settlement to US authorities after admitting bribery in UK court May 24, 2022 Commodity trader Glencore has agreed to pay more than $1bn to US and Brazilian authorities to settle corruption investigations, after indicating it will plea guilty to bribery charges in the UK. Glencore said it will pay a combined sum of $1.06bn to the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and [...]
UK strikes compensation deal with Nigeria following years-long global fraud probe February 22, 2022 Over £200,000 in compensation obtained by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into a company called Amec Foster Wheeler Energy will be transferred to Nigeria after a UK-Nigeria Memorandum of Understanding was signed today, the SFO said this afternoon. “In total, £210,610 will be transferred by the UK Government, with the funds supporting three key [...]
SFO outgunned by UK firms that spend millions more on lawyers to ‘buy impunity’ November 15, 2021 Companies under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office have spent up to ten times more than the fraudbusters on legal and investigation fees, causing major corruption cases to crash and burn, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has found. The UK’s only complex fraud agency’s fight against economic crime is undermined by its lack of funding, [...]
Petrofac fined £77m for string of Middle Eastern bribery charges October 4, 2021 Petrofac has been fined £77m for seven separate charges of failing to prevent bribery in the Middle East, to which the London-listed oil services provider plead guilty last month. The penalty, for failing to prevent former Petrofac employees from offering or making payments to agents in relation to projects awarded between 2012 and 2015, is [...]
Former Serco boss calls for abolition of Serious Fraud Office May 10, 2021 A former Serco executive who was cleared of defrauding taxpayers by hiding millions of pounds in profits has called for the abolition of the white collar crime agency that pursued him. Simon Marshall, who was acquitted last month, said the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) did not have “anything to do with justice” and should be [...]