Divorce and the complex webs of hidden assets
13 Sep 2016With 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 […]
Forensic investigations can clear as well as condemn
02 Sep 2016A 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 […]
Businesses need to be on their guard
22 Aug 2016A 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 […]
Forensic investigation uncovers abuse of trust
14 Aug 2016A 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 […]
Companies House plans widely criticised
05 Aug 2016There 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 […]
Forensic Accountant uncovers fraudster
04 Jul 2016Although 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 […]
Russian oligarch divorce case highlights need for close forensic investigation
24 Jun 2016The 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 […]
Money trail nails guilty party
20 Jun 2016In 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 […]
FORENSIC ACCOUNTING HITS THE BIG SCREEN
13 Jun 2016The 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 […]
Forensic Accountants Ahoy
06 Jun 2016Actress Amber Heard, Johnny Depp’s wife of 15 months, who is filing for divorce, has apparently asked him to cover her forensic accountant’s fees to the tune of $25,000, as well as $50,000 a month in temporary ‘spousal support’. She has engaged a forensic accountant, as she wants to be certain just how much the […]
Maintaining an audit trail
31 May 2016The Bank of England has ordered UK banks to detail steps taken to secure computers connected to the SWIFT bank-messaging network after a still-unidentified group used the system to steal £56m from Bank Bangladesh. This previously unreported action marks the earliest known case of a central bank in a major economy ordering its member banks […]
RBS bosses will not face criminal charges following complex forensic investigation
25 May 2016Prosecutors from the Crown Office have announced that former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) bosses will not face criminal charges in connection with the sale of shares in the bank in the months leading up to its collapse. They had been investigating the bank’s decision to carry out a rights issue in 2008, which was […]
VAT frauds investigated
16 May 2016Two separate VAT frauds have been uncovered this week by forensic investigators and, ironically, both were carried out by men with claims to be on first-name terms with celebrities here and in America. One, who described himself as a “designer to the stars”, pretended that he was running a multi-million pound clothing empire. However, investigators […]
Importance of Forensic Investigators
09 May 2016Finding out ‘where the money went’ has been in the news this week, including the story of a Sunday Times investigation and complaints from the National Police Chiefs’ Council. The stories are from two opposite ends of the spectrum, with the Times story featuring a 16-year-old boy with an unexplained £16,000 overdraft and the Council […]
Footballer welcomes forensic investigation
29 Apr 2016Former Chelsea striker, Didier Drogba, has reacted angrily to claims by the Daily Mail that only £14,115 of the £1.7m donated to his charity, the Didier Drogba Foundation, has gone to help causes in Africa. Threatening legal action against the “false and defamatory” claims, the Ivorian said he welcomed a forensic investigation that would show […]
Unexplained Wealth
22 Apr 2016As the ‘Panama Papers’ scandal rumbles on, the Government is announcing a series of moves to crack down on corruption. One proposal is for a register of beneficial ownership, which will force offshore firms buying UK property to reveal their ultimate owners. Another is the unveiling of a series of aggressive powers aimed at tackling […]
Every available tool
15 Apr 2016People who carry out fraud will always leave a trace of their wrongdoing, however clever they think they have been. Some think that if they use a complex network of bank accounts or set up shell companies, for example, no one will be able to work out what they have done but they have reckoned […]
Panama Papers
08 Apr 2016The so-called ‘Panama Papers’ scandal has led to authorities all over the world setting forensic investigations in motion to see whether leaked papers contain any evidence of wrongdoing. Countries from Germany to Colombia have been spurred into action following the leak of millions of confidential documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca on how tax […]
Follow the money
01 Apr 2016Forensic accountants and investigators are in the spotlight on TV now, as the latest Scandinavian thriller on BBC4 is all about a team of investigators trying to find out what is going on in a seemingly thriving business. Called, aptly enough, Follow the Money, the series looks at the situation from both sides, with the […]
The Deuce Of an investigation
21 Mar 2016New claims surround the world of tennis, as an Italian prosecutor investigating match fixing in the game has criticised the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) for not pursuing the matter. Roberto Di Martino has called for more top tennis players to be looked into, claiming he has phone logs and telephone records proving their involvement. According […]
Shedding light on Goldfinger’s dealings
14 Mar 2016Earlier this week, police confirmed that convicted fraudster John “Goldfinger” Palmer was murdered in what police believe to be a professional hit, even though he had allegedly “gone straight” for more than a decade. However, as far back as 1993, he was the subject of an asset-freezing Mareva Injunction following his involvement with the […]
Further forensic investigation to come
09 Mar 2016A former sub-postmistress has secured the funding she needs to take a civil action against the Post Office, having been jailed in 2010 for false accounting. Rubbina Shaheen has always protested her innocence and is also seeking to get her conviction overturned. She is one of dozens of sub-postmasters across the country who claim to […]
Fraud on the increase
01 Mar 2016Recent research has found that the UK is a “major centre of excellence” as far as forensic accounting is concerned, with a number of individuals being nominated for awards in a strong international competition. This is reassuring, as new figures suggest that five million frauds occur every year in England and Wales and last year […]
Forensic investigation continues
12 Feb 2016The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is looking at the activities of a Barclays’ hedge fund after allegations that it profited from using confidential information on Libor “low-balling” during the financial crisis. According to The Times, the fraud investigators are looking at the Cayman-registered Ricardo Master Fund as part of a broader investigation into Libor rigging. […]
Hacking uncovered by forensic investigation
09 Feb 2016An Austrian aerospace parts manufacturer has been the target of a cyber attack that resulted in a €50m loss to the firm. The firm revealed that its financial accounting department had been the target of cyber fraud after forensic investigations revealed the heist. It is thought that the heist was what is called a ‘spear […]