The Festival of Words: From Gyles Brandreth to Anthony Scaramucci – all you need to know about the Fleet Street Quarter festival
Three Brits arrested over £29m PPE fraud during Covid-19 February 8, 2023 The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has arrested three Brits over claims they ran a fraudulent company that brokered $35m (£29m) worth of PPE procurement deals at the height of Covid-19. Investigators believe that one of the three individuals – a man in his 50s – set up a UK company with the sole purpose [...]
Robot laws: First barrister to use AI in Old Bailey murder trial urges government to push forward cutting edge tech February 7, 2023 The first barrister to use an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool in an Old Bailey murder trial has called on the UK’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to invest in the cutting edge technology. Sally Hobson, a criminal defence barrister at London chambers The 36 Group, told City A.M. AI tech has the potential to “save huge [...]
Balli Steel execs found guilty of £120m fraud at collapsed trading firm February 2, 2023 Two Balli Steel executives have been convicted of using forged documents to mislead banks into lending the bankrupt commodities trader $150m (£122m). A jury at Southwark Crown Court today found Balli Steel executives Melis Erda and Louise Worsell guilty on six counts of fraud. Worsell, the managing director of Balli’s UAE business, and Erda, group [...]
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 [...]