New SFO director has ‘a massive mountain to climb’ as the anti-fraud agency looks to rebuild July 26, 2023 The new director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) faces a herculean task in rebuilding the agency’s reputation after a number of failures over the last few years, top City lawyers have warned. Earlier this month Nick Ephgrave, the former assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, was appointed as the next director of the agency [...]
ENRC: UK’s Serious Fraud Office must share blame for its former lawyer’s leaks, Dechert tells High Court March 15, 2023 US law firm Dechert has accused the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of knowingly cultivating an “improper relationship” with its former partner, corrupt City lawyer Neil Gerrard, in an ongoing legal battle concerning Kazakh mining firm ENRC. The law firm’s charge comes as it responds to a High Court claim by ENRC, which is seeking [...]
UK’s Serious Fraud Office should cover ENRC’s £21m costs in corruption investigation, London’s High Court hears March 6, 2023 Kazakh mining company ENRC today said the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) should, alongside US law firm Dechert, cover extra costs it accrued because of ex-City lawyer Neil Gerrard’s decision to leak company information to the fraud investigator, leading to the launch of a 10-year probe into the former FTSE 100 firm. At the opening [...]
UK’s Serious Fraud Office to face Kazakh miner ENRC in court as decade-long legal fight continues March 6, 2023 The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will today face Kazakhstani mining company ENRC in London’s High Court, as it continues its fight against the British government agency almost 10 years after it first launched an investigation into the former FTSE 100 firm. The SFO first launched its investigation into ENRC in April 2013 in relation [...]
Former Met police detective sues ex-City lawyer over ENRC hacking claims February 27, 2023 A former Metropolitan police officer has accused an ex-City lawyer of trying to hack his emails to steal information about Kazakh mining company ENRC. Former detective Cameron Findlay has claimed ex-Dechert partner Neil Gerrard orchestrated a campaign of ‘spear-phishing’ attacks against him during a court dispute surrounding the Kazakh firm, US court papers show. A [...]
Dechert hires ‘high stakes’ litigator to fight journalist’s ‘hack-and-smear’ lawsuit January 10, 2023 US law firm Dechert has hired “high-stakes” litigator Kaplan, Hecker & Fink to defend it from being sued by a former Wall Street Journal reporter, over claims it hired hackers to tarnish his reputation and push him out of a job. Dechert is being sued by the WSJ’s former chief foreign correspondent, Jay Solomon, over [...]
UAE fund turns on top City lawyer in bid to exit Iranian-American airline tycoon’s hacked emails case June 23, 2022 Embattled City lawyer Neil Gerrard suffered another blow this week, after his former client, an Emirati sovereign fund, turned on the ex-Dechert partner, after offering to pay $1m to settle a case brought against it by a powerful Iranian-American business tycoon. The fund’s efforts to distance itself from Dechert’s former head of white-collar crime comes [...]
Ex-Dechert solicitor leaked ENRC’s confidential documents to media, London judge rules May 16, 2022 A London judge has said a senior partner at corporate law firm Dechert LLP breached his duties to Kazakhstani mining conglomerate ENRC by leaking information about the company to three British newspapers and the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO). High Court judge Mr Justice Waksman said Neil Gerrard, the former head of white-collar crime at [...]
Dechert lawyers held ‘mock trial’ to help witnesses construct false cover story, court hears March 17, 2022 Lawyers in Dechert’s London office have been accused of holding meetings to come up with a “cover story” for how the firm obtained a cache of hacked emails that were used to win a lawsuit against Iranian airline tycoon Farhad Azima. A High Court heard that Neil Gerrard, Dechert’s former head of financial crime, put [...]
‘Memory affected by long Covid’: Top City lawyer denies lying under oath July 9, 2021 City lawyer Neil Gerrard rejected the notion he lied under oath during a multimillion-pound High Court trial after text messages emerged suggesting he knew one of his client’s senior employees was secretly giving evidence to investigators. Gerrard and his firm Dechert represented Kazakh mining giant Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) between 2011 and 2013, investigating [...]