Deferred payment prosecution

A small firm in Rotherham could be about to make legal history by becoming the first business to strike a deferred prosecution agreement with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), as a way of avoiding prosecution on bribery charges. If agreed, the deal would also mark the first settlement of an SFO investigation into breaches of […]

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Independent investigation

An independent report has found that technology giant Toshiba overstated profits over a period of six years and that senior executives were complicit in the scandal. This could result in up to 400 billion Yen in charges and the resignation of most senior personnel. In fact, Chief Executive Hisao Tanaka has already resigned over the […]

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A costly business

The sale of personal shares in a house building firm has made the news, as the Director involved has said he sold them to fund his divorce settlement.  Joint Managing Director of Telford Homes plc, John Fitzgerald, sold 275,000 shares earlier this week, raising around £1.2m before expenses.  He still retains 107,718 shares in the […]

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Problems at the Post Office

It  has  widely  been  reported  by  the  BBC  that  a confidential report, commissioned by the Post Office, has bolstered the cases of dozens of Subpostmasters and  Subpostmistresses  who  claim  to  have  been unfairly accused of and, in some cases, prosecuted for theft from their post offices. Having  successfully  acted  for  solicitors  representing  a number of […]

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Forensic accountants and food fraud

The Danes have been employing forensic accountants to investigate food fraud for years, under the premise that a fraudster will always leave evidence in the books. To that end, in 2006, they set up the Danish Food Flying Squad, which includes inspectors with forensic accounting skills. According to the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration department, […]

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The 24-hour divorce – not possible for many

British couples are to be allowed to get divorced in as little as 24 hours from now on, as they can attend a regional ‘divorce centre’ to work on their marriage under a court shake-up. Currently, an uncontested divorce can take up to 33 weeks to finalise and costs (on average) in the region of […]

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Forensic accountants – expert witnesses

As the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) puts it, forensic accountants are the ‘detectives of the finance world’ and, like their sleuth counterparts in other sectors, they investigate allegations and seek to get to the truth of the matter. In addition, also like their peers in other criminal cases, they are […]

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There is always a digital footprint

Some people seem to think that if they don’t do something in the ‘real’ world, they leave no trace but this isn’t true; anything anyone does in the digital world leaves a trail and in the case of alleged fraudsters, it is the forensic accountant who will pick up on that scent and follow it. […]

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No smoke without fire?

That’s what the old saying would lead us to believe but it’s not always the case, of course. It’s what Greg Dyke is saying about Sepp Blatter’s resignation as President of FIFA this week and it’s often said when circumstances point to a particular conclusion. However, circumstantial evidence is not enough to convict someone of […]

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No stone left unturned

Reports of the various scandals in the news at the moment, from FIFA to the Keydata ‘death bonds’ saga, are the culmination of, in some cases, years of painstaking investigation into the financial dealings of the various bodies involved. All of these cases started with allegations, rumours and beliefs that something was wrong until enough […]

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Forensic investigation uncovered the extent of spot market manipulation

A statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed this week that its Washington Field Office, in collaboration with partners abroad, particularly the UK’s regulatory law enforcement authorities, uncovered manipulation of the foreign exchange market on a massive scale. The investigation took 19 months, during which time the FBI and its partners reconstructed the […]

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A sad case for forensic accountants

As the general population ages and dementia and general sickness become more prevalent amongst the elderly, it is unfortunately likely that there will be more cases such as the one concerning the man who defrauded his dying grandfather out of his life savings. In this sad case, a Doncaster man, who had power of attorney […]

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Claim and counter claim

The long-running saga of the acquisition of UK firm Autonomy by technology giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) has taken a new turn this week after new details of HP’s $5.1bn (£3.6bn) lawsuit have emerged in a court filing. In the documents, HP accuses two former Autonomy executives of artificially boosting the company’s revenue in a deliberate bid […]

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Quantifying loss

The shocking news from Nepal and the extent of the devastation and loss of life the earthquake has served is a stark reminder that human beings are at the mercy of ‘acts of god’ such as this.  We are lucky in this country that we don’t suffer from such extremes but businesses and individuals are […]

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Forensic accountants find flaws

Forensic accountants engaged to investigate the treatment of sub-postmasters by the Post Office have found that the Post Office failed to properly investigate the cause of cash shortfalls in post offices around the country before launching proceedings for false accounting, theft and fraud.  The firm also said that the Post Office had withheld vital documents […]

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Major investigations

As news comes of the “extremely severe” sentence handed to Nina Ricci perfume heir, Arlette Ricci by a Paris court for tax fraud, the French authorities have announced that they are opening criminal investigations into HSBC following the so-called Swissleaks scandal.  Ms Ricci was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay a […]

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The potential to avoid court

The battle between IT giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) and the former directors of Autonomy, the company it bought in 2011 on the basis that the business was thriving, has taken another turn after HP has signed an agreement with Autonomy’s auditors to avoid a court case.   The ‘standstill’ agreement is seen as a signal that […]

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Fraud and Forensic Accounting

News that Tesco is likely to be sued by another group of shareholders over the retailer’s £263m profit mis-statement will almost certainly lead to further forensic investigations on the part of their legal team. The investors are demanding compensation from Tesco following the slump in its share price last autumn. It is likely that these […]

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Accounting for food fraud

Although more often associated with white-collar fraud, a leading academic argues that forensic accounting can track food fraud and should be used by the UK Food Crime Unit as a matter of routine.  Lisa Jack, Professor of Accounting at the University of Portsmouth contends that food fraud is a fraud issue like any other and […]

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Landmark ruling for spouses of wealthy partners

In a recent landmark ruling, the ex-wife of a wealthy equine vet will have her personal maintenance payments stopped and was told to get a job and not expect to live off her husband for the rest of her life. In addition, the judge said that divorcees with children aged over seven should work for […]

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Low level fraud increasing

New research has found that, while the total value of reported fraud cases fell to its lowest level in more than a decade last year, the volume of cases has risen to its highest level with lower level crime on the increase. However, the incidence of fraud may be even higher than the numbers suggest, […]

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Protecting Third Parties

With hearts and flowers everywhere at the moment, one could be forgiven for thinking we are a nation of romantics but the romance can quickly wear off when someone is unwittingly caught up in crime and has their assets frozen or faces a bill from the courts through no fault of their own. At that […]

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Tesco to be investigated

The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA), which is set to be handed new powers to impose penalties on large retailers of up to one per cent of their annual UK turnover, has announced this week that supermarket giant Tesco is to be investigated over its relationships with suppliers following allegations of bullying and delayed payments. According […]

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Union leaders push for forensic investigation into business failure

Union leaders have called for a forensic investigation into the collapse of parcel delivery firm City Link after the company, which had 2,727 employees across the UK, called in administrators after years of “substantial losses”. City Link entered administration towards the end of December, with many workers finding out they were being let go on […]

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Autonomy case dropped by SFO

The Serious Fraud Office has dropped its investigation into the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett Packard, saying that, on the information available, there is little realistic prospect of a conviction. However, HP is determined to continue with a separate case being brought in the US.  The case centred on the sale of software firm Autonomy […]

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