UK to ‘use all tools’ available to crack down on thousands of firms that missed property register deadline February 1, 2023 The UK government has vowed to “use all the tools” at its disposal to crack down on the thousands of overseas companies that have failed to report their beneficial owners with Companies House’s new property register. The government pledged to fine and prosecute the “oligarchs and non-compliant organisations” that missed yesterday’s deadline to declare their [...]
Financial crime: Anti-money laundering and crypto fines surge to £4bn in regulatory crackdown January 22, 2023 Anti-money laundering fines globally surged 53 per cent in 2022 while fines to crypto firms rose over 90 per cent as regulators cracked down on financial misconduct, data from Fenergo shows. In total, financial institutions were fined nearly $5bn (£4.04bn) in 2022. According to Fenergo’s financial crime policy manager Rory Doyle, the jump was linked [...]
Water company fined half-a-million pounds after raw sewage discharged into river for 23 HOURS straight killing 5,000 fish January 14, 2023 A water company has been fined more than half a million pounds after raw sewage was discharged into a river for 23 hours killing 5,000 fish, the Environment Agency said. Anglian Water pleaded guilty to a breach of permit and was ordered to pay a fine of £510,000, costs of £50,000 and a victim surcharge [...]
Exclusive: Surge in fraud and scams sends shivers through the City’s financial services space January 11, 2023 Close to half of Londoners believe the financial services industry is more vulnerable to fraud and scams than ever before. And for good reason. In fact, with fraud costing the UK £9.3bn a year, identity theft leaping 11 per cent to an all-time high in 2021 and, for the year ending September 2021, overall fraud was [...]
New Year: Eight arrests as revellers rush stewards to ‘force’ way into fireworks January 1, 2023 Eight people were arrested during New Year’s Eve fireworks in central London, after celebrations turned sour with revellers trying to “force” their way into the sold-out event. In its first return since the pandemic, thousands of tickets were sold to watch midnight fireworks, but trouble started about an hour before 2023 was welcomed. Fireworks also [...]
Knightsbridge fund managers convicted for defrauding Libya’s sovereign fund December 8, 2022 A trio of fund managers have been convicted of carrying a large-scale fraud that saw Libya’s sovereign wealth fund lose £46m. The three men, who managed £822m worth of investments on behalf of the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio (LAIP), defrauded the fund through a series of offshore shell companies. The fraud came after London bankers [...]
Lack of enforcement sees fraudsters resort to ‘brute force’ tactics, new report warns December 7, 2022 Fraudsters are increasingly resorting to “brute force” tactics, having been emboldened by a lack of consequences for those who are caught, a new report says. A lack of enforcement has seen fraudsters adopt increasingly unsophisticated methods, the report by Interpol and identity verification company Onfido says. The situation has seen criminals turn to using blanket [...]
British companies are failing to keep up with criminals, in-house lawyers warn November 3, 2022 In-house lawyers working in major British companies are becoming increasingly concerned that the firms they work for are failing to keep up with the methods being used by criminals to carry out financial crime. More than two-thirds of in-house lawyers surveyed by law firm Ashurst said they have concerns about their companies’ abilities to keep [...]
Bank of England, Home Office, MI5 and News Corp HQ targeted by Just Stop Oil vandalism October 31, 2022 The Bank of England was among London landmarks targeted by environment activists this morning, along with the Home Office, MI5 and headquarters of News Corp. Two Just Stop Oil demonstrators were arrested by City police outside the Bank of England, after the building was covered in orange paint. The City of London Police said the [...]
Credit Suisse pays £208m to settle French probe October 24, 2022 Credit Suisse has agreed to pay France €238m (£208m) to settle a tax fraud and money laundering probe brought against it by the country’s economic crime agency. The embattled financier said in a statement it had reached a settlement with France’s Parquet National Financier (PNF) financial crime unit to resolve a “legacy matter” relating to [...]