“ChickenGate” duo receive UK’s first conviction for bribing foreign officials February 12, 2015 Two former executives of printing company Smith & Ouzman have received the UK's first conviction for bribing foreign officials. Smith & Ouzman's marketing director Nicholas Smith received a three year sentence for three counts of corruptly agreeing to make payments, while chairman Chris Smith was handed an 18-month suspended sentence for two counts of [...]
Serious Fraud Office must stay at arm’s length from government February 4, 2015 Other than their membership of the UK’s blue-chip share index, what unites Barclays, G4S, GlaxoSmithKline, Rolls Royce Holdings and Tesco? The answer is that they all feature prominently in the caseload of David Green, the director of the Serious Fraud Office. Britain’s principal white-collar crime-fighting agency has come a long way since Green inherited the [...]
UK fraud office ends Autonomy accounts probe January 19, 2015 THE BATTLE between Hewlett-Packard (HP) and the former executives of UK-based software company Autonomy took another turn yesterday as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) closed its probe into the firm saying there wasn’t enough evidence for a conviction. Autonomy, then a darling of the UK’s technology startup community, was sold to HP for $11.7bn (£7.7bn) [...]
Weavering hedge fund founder Magnus Peterson convicted in fraud case January 19, 2015 The chief executive of failed Mayfair hedge fund Weavering was found guilty of a fraud at Southwark crown court today, after his rouge investment fund collapsed swallowing $536m (£354m) of investors' cash in 2009. Magnus Peterson was found guilty of eight courts of fraud, forgery, false accounting, fraudulent trading while being acquitted on eight other charges. [...]
HP vs Autonomy: “Insufficient evidence” to convict, says Serious Fraud Office January 19, 2015 More news on the epic battle between Hewlett-Packard (HP) and UK-based software company Autonomy. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said today it has closed its investigation into the British company, despite accusations from HP that it had committed accounting fraud. Autonomy, then a darling of the UK's technology startup community, was sold to HP for [...]
Forex price fixers may face jail under George Osborne’s new plans December 22, 2014 Chancellor George Osborne yesterday confirmed the government would make price-fixing in foreign exchange markets a criminal offence in 2015. It is part of a larger plan that extends the rules put in place to regulate Libor – a rate at which banks lend to each other – to several other financial market benchmarks. [...]
Alstom pays record fine of $772m to US Department of Justice for bribery charges December 22, 2014 Alstom has pleaded guilty to charges of bribery by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), and must now pay a penalty fine of $772m. The French engineering firm has admitted to giving money to government officials in countries such as Indonesia, India and China, in order to win business from them. The DOJ [...]
Former JJB Sports chief receives four-year jail term for £1m fraud December 15, 2014 THE FORMER chief executive of JJB Sports has been handed a four-year jail sentence after being found guilty of accepting more than £1m in backhanders from suppliers. Chris Ronnie was convicted last month of pocketing six-figure payments from three suppliers while in charge of the now-defunct retailer and failing to declare them to the board. [...]
Tesco in further turmoil after profits tumble December 9, 2014 Investors fled for cover yesterday as Tesco warned on profits for the fourth time in five months, raising fears in the City that the ailing supermarket could become a takeover target. Analysts at investment bank Espirito Santo compared Tesco’s demise to that of Sears in 2004, when the US retailer – once the [...]
Fifa facing Serious Fraud Office probe over World Cup bidding November 26, 2014 THE SERIOUS Fraud Office has stepped up efforts to open an investigation into football’s world governing body Fifa amid allegations of corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process. It came as Sajid Javid, secretary of state for culture, media and sport, joined calls for Fifa to publish in full a controversial inquiry [...]