Proving the provenance of assets

A family from the South West has had an £8.1 million property portfolio seized by the National Crime Agency (NCA) after a civil recovery and tax investigation. Although the Davies family has not been convicted of any crime, they were unable to prove the provenance of the seized assets, which the NCA insist were acquired […]

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Following the threads

Recently leaked documents suggest that the Vatican’s finances are in deficit and that the blame lies largely with the management of its property portfolio. The accusation is that the properties are not rented out at market values and that the portfolio made a loss of €22.6 million in 2018. The leaks are the latest embarrassment […]

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Police seize evidence in Vatican financial investigation

Italian police have raided the offices of the First Section of the Secretariat of State and the State Financial Information Authority at the Vatican and seized documents and electronic devices as part of an investigation of suspected financial irregularities. The Secretariat of State, the most powerful department in the Vatican, is the nerve centre of […]

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Academy heads suspended for splashing the cash

An investigation into an Academy Trust that ended up with the Chief Executive being suspended has uncovered lavish spending on gift hampers, alcohol ordered to hotel rooms and unapproved severance payments. According to a statement, both the Chief Executive and Executive Principal of the Thrive Partnership Academy Trust were suspended last year pending an investigation. […]

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Trump’s ‘Two sets of books’

According to a new report from investigative newsroom ProPublica, Donald Trump reported his business assets to lenders and New York City tax officials in two very different ways, leading to suspicions and allegations of fraud. The documents Mr Trump provided to his lenders appear to be different from those he gave to the US tax […]

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Libor: Investigation closed but still questions to answer

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has announced that it is closing its investigation into the alleged rigging of the Libor benchmark rate after a seven-year investigation. According to the SFO, there will be no further charges brought against the 13 individuals charged currently with conspiracy to defraud. However, it appears that the agency was still […]

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Potential investigation into Thomas Cook collapse

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom has asked the Insolvency Service to open an investigation into the collapse of travel firm Thomas Cook “as a matter of urgency” and the Official Receiver will now look into the company’s failure and the conduct of its directors. Following her announcement, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said that the directors had […]

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Pay back the profits or face jail, HBOS scammers warned

Fraudsters jailed for a total of more than 18 years in the Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) fraud scandal have been told to repay the profits they made or face extra time in jail. Michael Bancroft has been ordered to pay back more than £727,000 after being jailed for 10 years in January 2017 following […]

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Disclosure of Assets in Divorce: Potanina v Potanin

The UK’s biggest ever divorce case is due to be heard in the High Court after a Russian oligarch’s wife launched a legal bid to claim a third of his fortune. Vladimir Potanin and Natalia Potanina had been married for 30 years when in 2013, Vladimir, who has been described as the second richest man […]

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One investigation leads to another

Rather like peeling an onion, financial investigations can often lead to further explorations of financial management. A good example of this is the Insolvency Service’s recent winding up of a magazine publisher. In this case, the Insolvency Service wound up a publishing company that produced magazines that supported the emergency services. The court heard that […]

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LCF Financial investigation likely to be frustrated by legal action

Administrators for mini-bond firm London Capital & Finance (LCF) have warned that investors will have to wait longer than previously thought to receive their first dividend and that it could take several years to complete their investigations into the firm’s collapse due to the “level of complexity” in the case. Also, they estimate that investors […]

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Allegations of financial impropriety

Former senior executives at football pitch operator, Goals Soccer Centre (“Goals”), are under investigation over historic financial irregularities. The former Chief Executive and Finance Chief are alleged to have falsified invoices and deleted old emails in order to destroy evidence. Indeed, one forensic investigation has allegedly found evidence that one of the two individuals under […]

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The importance of paperwork

A request for the public’s help in a financial investigation into the demise of London and Capital Finance (LCF) by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) highlights the importance of keeping records as evidence. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) also urged any members of the public affected by LCF’s closure to keep any relevant paperwork safe. […]

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Calling in the experts

Medway Council has called in forensic accountants following the launch of a fraud investigation into the activities of the council’s trading company. According to the Council’s leader, some of the projects undertaken by Medway Commercial Group (MCG) were “a departure from its expertise” and were a key weakness according to a probe into its management […]

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Rise of the Unexplained Wealth Order

The Financial Times (FT) has explained how the National Crime Agency (NCA) is using an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) to investigate a woman suspected of having links to paramilitary organisations and a separate piece on the potential use of UWOs to tackle “domestic” organised crime. UWOs were introduced by the Government last year in a […]

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First anti-corruption order to freeze property assets

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has announced it has used anti-corruption powers in a serious organised crime case for the first time, after freezing assets owned by a businessman with suspected links to gangs involved in trafficking, armed robberies and supplying firearms. The NCA has secured an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) to force the man […]

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Arrests over Patisserie Valerie alleged fraud

According to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), five people have been arrested and questioned over alleged accounting fraud at Patisserie Valerie, although Luke Johnson, Patisserie Valerie’s former chairman and a columnist for The Sunday Times, was not among those arrested. Mr Johnson, who was the firm’s largest shareholder when it failed in January with the […]

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Tailor, Taxman, Soldier, Spy

A tax thief and money launderer has been landed with a bill for £615,000, which he must pay or face extra time in jail. Raymond Thomas was jailed for four years in November 2017, after an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigation found he had stolen £1.6 million. In an attempt to hide his crime, […]

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‘Money mules’ hoping to pass unnoticed

Recent research suggests that middle-aged people are increasingly – and often unwittingly – being targeted by criminal gangs to launder money. According to fraud prevention service Cifas, the number of so-called ‘money mules’ aged between 40 and 60 increased by 35 per cent in 2019 compared with 2017. A money mule, sometimes called a ‘smurfer’, […]

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Financial investigation results in share price rising

Shares in Kraft Heinz rose after the food giant announced it had completed an accounting investigation and changed its financial practices accordingly. The business finally filed its results to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) having concluded its internal investigation into accounting irregularities in its procurement division. The filing, completed more than three months late, […]

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Clarity is key

A recent First Tier Tribunal (FTT) case highlights that not only must a case argument contain all of the relevant information but that this information must be presented clearly or the evidence upholding the argument becomes impenetrable. As any psychiatrist would agree, no two minds think in exactly the same way, but most people think […]

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Missing coins mystery

Financial investigators have discovered that the digital wallets of the QuadrigaCX exchange had been emptied of millions in cryptocurrency months before founder Gerald Cotten died.

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Where has the money come from?

Yet again the work of the forensic accountant has come to the public’s attention via television. In this week’s episode of Shetland, DI Jimmy Perez asks one of his sergeants to get ‘the forensic team’ to find out how a suspect in a people trafficking case made his money.

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Refuting the evidence: London Capital & Finance

Investors who put savings into high risk mini-bonds with London Capital & Finance (LCF), totalling £236 million, are fearful about what has happened to their money after the firm’s recent collapse.

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Financial investigation handed over to police

Police have been handed evidence from a year-long investigation into financial irregularities allegedly committed by the former Chief Executive of the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), Jeremy Newmark. An investigation began in March 2018 after a leaked document alleged financial impropriety against Mr Newmark, who stood down as Chief Executive in 2013 on the grounds of […]

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