Madoff’s London unit escapes fraud charges February 2, 2010 THE Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has said it will not take any action against Madoff Securities International – a London arm of frausdster Berine Madoff’s business empire. Directors of the Mayfair-based business have also escaped charges as prosecutors had “insufficient evidence”. The SFO said in a statement there isn’t enough evidence to “provide a realistic [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 26, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES ATHENS INVITES BEIJING TO BUY BONDS Greece is wooing China to buy up to €25bn of government bonds, a move that underlines Beijing’s growing financial power, as Athens struggles to fund soaring public debt. Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, has been promoting a Greek bond sale to Beijing and the State Administration [...]
SFO launches a probe into Kaupthing over Edge account December 16, 2009 THE Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched an investigation into the UK operations of Kaupthing, the Icelandic bank that imploded in October 2008. The SFO is particularly interested in the high yield Kaupthing Edge savings account, which was marketed by subsidiary Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander and attracted more than 30,000 UK customers. The SFO said: [...]
SFO in Icelandic bank probe December 13, 2009 THE SERIOUS Fraud Office (SFO) is preparing to announce a formal investigation into collapsed Icelandic banks that operated in the UK. The inquiry, which will examine Kaupthing, Glitnir and Landsbanki, follows months of intelligence gathering by officials at the SFO and is expected to be announced soon. The SFO has been in close touch with [...]
The Americanisation of the SFO is not the way to stamp out UK fraud December 1, 2009 THIS year began with an announcement by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) that it was investigating potential UK criminality arising out of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme scandal. Richard Alderman, the SFO’s director, hailed the investigation as an example of the “new, faster approach to tackling fraud”. So as the year draws to a close, [...]
SFO drops prosecution of biotech millionaire Sir Christopher Evans November 12, 2009 BIOTECH millionaire Sir Christopher Evans will not be prosecuted for alleged fraud after a four-year probe into his venture capital firm Merlin Biosciences was dropped. The Serious Fraud Office has been investigating Evans over claims from a former employee that he had paid between £1m and £2.5m into a shell company of unknown ownership. But [...]
SFO launches probe into Dynamic hedge fund November 12, 2009 THE Serious Fraud Office has launched a criminal investigation into Dynamic Decisions Capital Management, a Mayfair-based hedge fund. Dynamic Decisions’ flagship Growth Premium Master fund went into liquidation in May amid claims its net asset value had plummeted from $550m (£332.9m) to $20m. The SFO said it was looking into the investment activities of the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPER SAY THIS MORNING November 8, 2009 THE SUNDAYSThe Sunday TelegraphBAE HIRES PINOCHET LAWYER FOR SFO FIGHTBAE Systems has instructed General Pinochet’s former QC to handle its defence if the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is successful in persuading the Attorney General to proceed with a fraud prosecution against the arms manufacturer. GOVERNMENT PLANS FAST-TRACK NUCLEAR EXPANSIONThe government is set to hand an [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 2, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES VODAFONE’S GHANA DEAL ATTRACTS SFO INTERESTThe UK Serious Fraud Office has contacted Vodafone about its controversial deal to buy a controlling stake in Ghana’s third-largest mobile phone operator. The SFO has not launched an investigation into the deal, but is monitoring allegations of irregularity that have been made in Ghana. INDIAN SURGE BENEFITS [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 26, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES TOSHIBA TARGETS METALS DEAL IN KAZAKHSTANJapanese companies, urged on by their government, are racing to secure supplies of rare metals and rare earth elements that are vital to many technology products.By the end of the year Toshiba aims to agree a deal with Kazatomprom, the national uranium company of Kazakhstan, to extract rare [...]