Following the money

‘Follow the money’ is a key exhortation in most investigations, as cash is a used as a motivator even in crimes that appear to have nothing to do with it.  One recent example of this is the alleged involvement of Donald Trump’s presidency with Russia. According to some sources, independent forensic accounts, legislators and the […]

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Forensic investigators giving expert witness evidence

Investigations have been ongoing for some years in the case of a South Wales man who was found to have hidden assets by a judge earlier this month. The man owns a skip hire business and had already been jailed for eight months for breaching conditions of his waste permit. He was originally investigated following […]

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Financial investigation prompts Charity Commission action

A financial investigation by Yorkshire Police into a martial arts charity has prompted the Charity Commission to freeze the charity’s bank accounts. The force has begun a financial investigation into the Jack Raine Community Foundation, which works with children and families and runs coaching sessions in contact and non-contact martial arts and education. The police […]

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Washing the dirty laundry

Type ‘money laundering UK’ into a Google search and you get over 200,000 results.  Many may not be relevant but there is no doubt that money laundering features more commonly in the commercial world than ever before. In a nutshell, money laundering is the process of seeking to give apparent legitimacy to the proceeds of […]

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Evidence of efficacy of forensic accountants

A new study has proved that business owners and individuals are recognising the benefits of bringing in a forensic accountant early in cases such as professional negligence or a shareholder dispute, as their use shot up by over 20 per cent in the year to December 2016. The Network of Independent Forensic Accountants (NIFA) found […]

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Evidence for forensic accountants

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has this week raided two football clubs and arrested a number of people in a bid to recover evidence that will be used in a forensic investigation. 180 officers were deployed across the UK and France and have collected business records, computers, mobile phones and financial documentation that will be […]

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Forensic examination of cycling body’s records

British Cycling has been asked to open its financial records to forensic examination after allegations of impropriety over several years.  In essence, the governing body has been accused of misusing public money intended for its World Class Performance programme (WCP). There have been claims that bikes and equipment bought with public money were sold privately […]

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Shell companies

Forensic financial investigations appear to be flavour of the month on television at the moment, as, hard on the heels of Follow the Money, another series, Vera, has been talking about “getting the forensic boys in”. However, where Follow the Money is all about the shenanigans of a shady bank chief, in the latest episode […]

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A lavish lifestyle

Former head of the notorious Adams family, Terry Adams, has just had his appeal against a compensation order of almost £700,000 quashed. Mr Adams said he had insufficient funds to pay a debt to the Government of £651,611 but a judge in the Court of Appeal said there was a strong case that the former […]

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Keeping the money clean

One of the problems criminals have is ‘cleaning’ the money they get for their nefarious activities. Therefore, they have to come up with increasingly inventive ways to launder it and there is currently a case involving Russia that suggests UK banks were involved in the clean-up activity. Dubbed the “Laundromat” case, it involves allegations that […]

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Following the Money

BBC 4’s series Follow the Money is back on our screens for a second series. The crime thriller sheds light on the individuals trying to uncover economic crime, and in the latest instalment the forensic investigators were asked to unravel dirty dealings at a bank. One of the team was alerted to the potential scam […]

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Fraud at highest point in five years

Recent research has found that there was a 32 per cent increase in the total value of reported fraud and a 35 per cent increase in the average value of reported fraud in 2016. However, the report comes with the caveat that reported fraud is the tip of the iceberg, with many firms preferring to […]

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Investigating beneficial ownership and other assets

Dubbed “Africa’s youngest billionaire”, Ashish Thakkar has recently lost a ruling over the ownership of family assets in his divorce case. Mr Thakkar, who claims to have assets of just £445,532, says he has no control over Mara Group Holdings Ltd and Inspire Group Holdings and that the shares are held by his family. However, […]

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Criminal investigation follows Charity Commission findings

Former Charlton Athletic footballer Richard Rufus is being investigated by City of London Police after a Charity Commission report found “mismanagement” at Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC). Mr Rufus had already been branded a “fraudster” by a specialist civil court judge in 2015 after running a Ponzi-style scheme between 2007 and 2011 and losing or […]

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Investigation in the fast lane

A spokeswoman for the Insolvency Service has told MPs that the “fast-tracked” investigation into the collapse of BHS may last until April 2019 because of the sheer amount of data compiled. According to Sarah Albon, the authority has now gathered all the evidence together and is working with forensic accountants to analyse it. In total, […]

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10-year investigation uncovers multi-million pound fraud

An investigation described as the “longest and most complex case in the history of Thames Valley Police” has resulted in six people being convicted of a multi-million pound fraud. The five men, one of whom was a senior banker, and one woman were found guilty of corruption, fraudulent trading and money-laundering offences having profited from […]

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Nothing beats evidence

Following news that Rolls-Royce has paid £671m this week to UK and US authorities to settle allegations of corruption, the Financial Times came up with a classic headline – ‘Fear the secret agent less than the accountant’. This may seem a slightly odd thing to say about the world of business espionage. However Rolls-Royce found […]

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Individuals charged by DoJ

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 […]

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Global Libor investigation

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 […]

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Financial investigator praised

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 […]

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Former Tesco executive avoids charges

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 […]

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Not such a beautiful game

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, […]

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Looking for the evidence

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), […]

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Laundry basket set to shrink

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 […]

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The Pensions Regulator’s “complex investigation”

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 […]

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