Although the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) closed its investigation into alleged manipulation of the foreign exchange market last March due of insufficient evidence, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has now indicted three UK-based former forex traders for the same crime. In the latest development in a collusion investigation that in 2015 led to five […]
Investigators from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) interviewed the head of Barclays in Japan, Mark Dearlove, last month as part of its investigation into Libor rigging; a sign that more senior executives are coming under scrutiny in the global probe. According to the FT, which broke the news, two other Japanese executives are also part […]
A financial investigator who tracked down almost £185,000 conned out of a 91-year-old woman with Parkinson’s disease by three so-called ‘carers’ was praised by a judge at the group’s confiscation hearing. The three women, who had no qualifications or training to deal with Parkinson’s, were charging the old lady up to £40,000 a month and […]
The former Commercial Director of Tesco, Kevin Grace, has been told this week that he will not face charges from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as it continues its investigation into a £326m hole in the supermarket giant’s accounts. The announcement comes two weeks after Tesco’s former Chief Executive, Philip Clarke, was told he would […]
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has confirmed it is investigating the tax affairs of dozens of football clubs, players and agents for ‘potential irregularities’. According to a spokeswoman for the Revenue, 43 players, eight agents and 12 leagues clubs are under investigation around the issue of image rights. The news comes as Manchester United’s manager, […]
The former Finance Director of UK software group Autonomy has been accused by US prosecutors of perpetrating an elaborate financial fraud designed to ‘deceive investors, analysts and auditors’. Sushovan Hussain is alleged to have been the mastermind behind a cover-up of the real state of Autonomy’s finances before it was acquired by Hewlett Packard (HP), […]
The National Crime Agency (NCA) says that up to £90bn is laundered through the UK each year, which the Government is aiming to stop with the Criminal Finance Bill currently going through Parliament. Under the new laws, hundreds of British properties suspected of belonging to people who made their money through dubious, if not downright […]
News emerged this week that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has allegedly arrested Dominic Chappell – the businessman who bought BHS for £1 from billionaire tycoon Sir Philip Green. The alleged arrest came on the eve of a High Court deadline for him to provide evidence about why £6million is missing from BHS’s balance […]
Following the disclosure earlier this year of the ‘Panama Papers’, Chancellor Philip Hammond has revealed this week that the financial affairs of a further 43 wealthy individuals are under review. When the details first came to light, then Prime Minister David Cameron announced the creation of a cross-agency taskforce to analyse all the information. This […]
The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report on enquiries by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) into ‘super-rich’ taxpayers and identified how these people are investigated. According to the NAO, one in three of the richest people in the UK are under “formal enquiry” at any one time by the taxman and there is […]
Watford FC has confirmed that the club has launched an internal investigation into an alleged fabricated financial document supplied to the English Football League (EFL) and that it is taking the matter “extremely seriously”. The Premier League side is alleged to have supplied a forged letter from HSBC bank to the footballing authorities and could […]
A date has been set for three former Tesco executives to appear in court to face charges of fraud and false accounting in relation to a scandal at the retail giant that left a ‘black hole’ of up to £326m in its accounts. All three men are charged with one count of fraud by abuse […]
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is expected to ‘move quickly” in the criminal inquiry into Airbus’s use of third-party agents to win commercial jet sales. The case involves discrepancies over the amount of agents’ fees disclosed in applications for export support, or missing names of third parties – which in some cases date back several […]
Most people in the UK are aware that iconic TV series Cold Feet is back on our screens almost 20 years after it started and features the same characters, who are now older but not necessarily wiser. In fact, one of the gang, management consultant David, appears to have fallen foul of the bribery laws […]
News emerged this week that notorious gangster, John ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer, who was once described as Britain’s richest criminal, had been under surveillance for 16 years, even while in prison. Never far from complex financial deals, Palmer was due to stand trial in Spain on charges of fraud, money laundering and firearm possession at the time […]
A whistleblower at supermarket giant Tesco sparked a criminal investigation into alleged false accounting after a new Chief Executive took over two years ago. This has led to three former directors being accused this week of acting dishonestly for personal gain. The former Finance Director and former Managing Director of Tesco UK and the former […]
With London the acknowledged divorce capital of the world, a national newspaper has written a piece on the more inspired places spouses try and hide their assets. The list is long, however, the fact that they have been discovered shows just how vital a forensic accountant is when it comes to finding assets in a […]
A forensic investigation lasting almost two years into former Tesco Chief Financial Officer, Laurie McIlwee, has resulted in it being closed. In December 2014, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) launched an investigation into the action of Tesco’s financial team following the discovery of a ‘black hole’ in the company’s accounts that was eventually valued at […]
A recent report by Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre, has found that one in five businesses has been defrauded by an employee, although this figure is thought to be the tip of the iceberg. Worryingly, this risk increases during periods of instability or economic downturn, so business owners need to […]
A painstaking and lengthy forensic investigation into abuse of trust by a former senior member of the Royal Household has led to the conviction of four people this week. The jury at the trial of Ronald Harper, who was employed by the Royal Household from 1994 to 2013, found him and his accomplices guilty of […]
There has been severe criticism of the proposal by Companies House to erase the accounts of dissolved firms after six years in an attempt to reform the storage and public access of data. According to forensic accountants, this would disrupt investigations into corruption and fraud and reverse the UK’s push to be a global leader […]
Although it tends to be the big money stories that hit the headlines, forensic accountants are key in ‘ordinary’ situations where people suspect fraud, as a recent story that made the local press underlines. A carer in Preston, Lancashire, was jailed for six years last month for defrauding £100,000 from an elderly man in her […]
The former wife of a Russian oligarch has engaged forensic accountants to prove that she is owed the £5bn she claims is half her former husband’s wealth, which she alleges is hidden behind complex corporate structures. Although initially in denial about the fact that her husband wanted a divorce, Natalia Potanina is now trying to […]
In the latest of the prolific references to financial forensic investigations to hit our screens recently, a suspect pharmacist-turned-businessman is put in the frame after financial investigators find he is linked with a series of payments to a man damaged by drugs testing. This is just one of the story’s strands in the BBC series […]
The sheer number of forensic investigations into potential financial wrongdoing in the media has brought the work of forensic accountants into the public domain. Therefore, it is of little surprise that forensic investigators will be key in a forthcoming US film called The Accountant. In the movie, actor Ben Affleck plays an accountant who combines […]