Solicitor jailed for abuse of position
12 Feb 2024A Wiltshire solicitor has been jailed for 24 months after being found guilty of stealing tens of thousands of pounds from elderly clients for whom she had power of attorney. Alison Griffiths admitted to her employer in 2021 that she had stolen around £49,000 from a 94-year-old woman in a care home, either by transferring […]
Assets frozen in PPE investigation
02 Feb 2024Assets worth around £75 million controlled by former Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her husband, Doug Barrowman, have been frozen or restrained under a court order obtained by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The National Crime Agency (NCA) is investigating allegations of fraud and bribery surrounding PPE Medpro, a company led by Mr Barrowman, over […]
Evidence found that points to tax fraud at Vanquish Options
26 Jan 2024Emails and other documents linking Vanquish Options and the husband of ex-Tory peer Michelle Mone, Doug Barrowman, suggest that there are grounds to open a criminal investigation into Vanquish Options. According to tax experts, financial records suggest that Mr Barrowman is linked to a series of tax avoidance companies that may have assisted their clients […]
Investigation into “sizeable systemic fraud” at Age UK
22 Jan 2024Gloucester Police has confirmed it has interviewed an employee of Age UK Gloucestershire under caution after reports of a “sizeable, systemic fraud” dating back to 2016. A file passed to officers suggests that the charity’s county operation could have lost almost £460,000. According to Age UK Gloucestershire’s Chief Executive Matt Fellows, the fraud was discovered […]
More Subpostmasters to get justice after ITV drama is aired
12 Jan 2024Following the airing of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office in early January, fifty more people have asked for legal advice, some of whom are former sub-postmasters whom the Post Office prosecuted between 1999 and 2015. The Metropolitan Police confirmed on 5 January that its officers are now exploring “potential fraud offences” arising from […]
Forensic Accountant supports Post Office scandal victims
11 Jan 2024A dramatisation of the Post Office Horizon scandal aired over the New Year demonstrates the importance of forensic audits in defence of fraud. The four-part series entitled Mr Bates vs the Post Office tells the story of Post Office staff who found themselves accused of stealing thousands of pounds from their branches. Between 2000 and 2014, more […]
Cardinal sentenced to prison after longest-ever Vatican trial
03 Jan 2024Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a former adviser to Pope Francis, has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail for financial crimes after a trial lasting two-and-half years. Becciu, the most senior Catholic Church official ever to stand trial before a Vatican criminal court, was convicted of embezzlement and fraud. The investigation hinged on the purchase in […]
Investigators found ‘huge gaps’ in the accounts
18 Dec 2023A lettings agent in Rochdale stole a ‘significant sum’ from her employer in a fraud that saw her siphoning off landlords’ rental payments into her own accounts. Joanne Barker left her estate agency on the brink of bankruptcy after four years of fraudulent activity, during which she cheated her employers out of money. Barker joined […]
Men jailed after lengthy and complex fraud investigation
12 Dec 2023Two Liverpool-based men have been jailed recently for a total of 14 years for fraud, following a six-year-long investigation. Graham Wortley and Robert Ware were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud after carrying out a “sophisticated” mortgage scam over a period of three and a half years. The investigation proved that the men had encouraged […]
Emotional toll of Shakira’s fraud investigation
04 Dec 2023Colombian singer Shakira has settled a tax fraud case with the Spanish authorities that could have seen her facing eight years in jail if found guilty, saying she needs to “move past the stress and emotional toll of the last several years”. Although she still denies wrongdoing, the pop icon paid a fine of €7.4 […]
Government to give “no quarter with incidents of fraud”
27 Nov 2023At Treasury questions recently, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that more than 50 criminal investigations have begun into suspected fraud linked to COVID-19 support schemes. However, according to Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, the COVID-19 inquiry is uncovering “unsavoury examples of government mismanagement”. Ms Reeves claimed that ministers ignored warnings that their business loan schemes were vulnerable […]
Judge rules on the evidence in the Trump trial
20 Nov 2023In the fraud trial that threatens former President Donald Trump’s business empire, the Judge has already ruled that Mr Trump and the other defendants were liable for fraud based on the evidence put before the court. The trial stems from a lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, which accuses Mr Trump and […]
Beware of online fraud
02 Nov 2023A small business that supplies hairbrushes by Royal Warrant was defrauded to the tune of £1.6 million, a mere 20 minutes after the Financial Controller was tricked into giving criminals access to the company bank account. Steve Wright, CEO of Kent Brushes, was horrified to hear of the scam and even more astounded to find […]
‘Extravagant, lavish lifestyle’ funded through fraud
30 Oct 2023A company director has been jailed for six years after being part of a fraud scheme, where invoices worth £1 million were submitted to suppliers in respect of work not undertaken. Paul Fitzsimmons had been a Facilities and Services Manager for almost 20 years at a US law firm where, as part of his role, […]
Call for HMRC to clamp down on tax evaders
13 Oct 2023A report from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and TaxWatch has led to calls for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to clamp down on wealthy tax offenders. The bodies’ investigation found that HMRC has only prosecuted 11 wealthy individuals in the last year, despite the Revenue’s staffing budget for this type of investigation rising […]
Accounting concerns sparked investigation into massive employee fraud
12 Oct 2023The Office Manager of a property firm stole more than £900,000 from her employers over almost three years and was eventually caught after concerns emerged over company accounting activity. Emma Hunt lied to friends about the source of her ‘income’ and, in an attempt to buy their affection, treated them to parties, hospitality at sporting […]
Long and complex investigation results in charges
03 Oct 2023The former Chief Financial Officer of Patisserie Valerie, Christopher Marsh and three other former employees have been charged with conspiracy to defraud. Mr Marsh, his wife, accountant Louise Marsh, Financial Controller Pritesh Mistry and financial consultant, Nileshkumar Lad, have been charged by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) with conspiring to inflate the cash in Patisserie […]
Accounting concerns sparked investigation into massive employee fraud
15 Sep 2023The Office Manager of a property firm stole more than £900,000 from her employers over almost three years and was eventually caught after concerns emerged over company accounting activity. Emma Hunt lied to friends about the source of her ‘income’ and, in an attempt to buy their affection, treated them to parties, hospitality at sporting […]
Lifestyle changes provide clues to fraud
12 Sep 2023A grandmother from Aberdeen is facing a custodial sentence for stealing more than £1.5 million from her employer by putting fake payments through to a bogus supplier but paying herself. Coleen Muirhead started work at scrap metal merchants Panda Rosa Metals in 2014 and has admitted to carrying out the thefts between 2015 and 2021. […]
Singer Shakira faces second tax fraud investigation in Spain
04 Sep 2023Award-winning Colombian singer Shakira is facing a new investigation into alleged tax fraud in Spain after a court agreed with the Barcelona Economic Crimes Prosecutors to look into two more possible cases. The singer is already set to face trial for allegedly failing to pay £12.6 million in taxes on income earned between 2012 and […]
Property seized in bid to control ‘dirty money’
25 Aug 2023Convicted fraudster, Gulnara Karimova, once dubbed the Uzbek princess’, has had three luxury properties confiscated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). According to the SFO, Karimova received hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes from telecommunications companies between 2004 and 2012 in return for helping them gain access to the market in Uzbekistan. An investigation […]
£20 million Ponzi scheme closed down
18 Aug 2023A fraudster who ran a £20 million Ponzi scheme has been found guilty of fraud, false accounting and forgery after abusing millions of pounds of investors’ money to buy racehorses and fund other businesses. He was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment and remains disqualified as a Director. Liam Wainwright, a director of Rawdon Asset Finance […]
Solar farm investment bankrupts Thurrock Council
14 Aug 2023Thurrock Council has been effectively bankrupted after a local businessman convinced the local authority to invest tens of millions of pounds before going on a spending spree with the cash. Liam Kavanagh persuaded Thurrock council to hand over the equivalent of almost its entire annual budget in an investment in his group of solar farms. […]
COVID-support abuse accounts for half of all Director bans
07 Aug 2023According to figures from the Insolvency Service, more than half of all company Directors struck off in the past 15 months were involved in alleged fraud or abuse of COVID-19 financial support schemes. The Government is clamping down on such fraudsters, and the figures also show that Directors guilty of coronavirus-related misconduct are facing lengthy […]
Post Office compensation scheme a “patchwork quilt with holes in it”
01 Aug 2023A report on the Post Office scandal, which led to hundreds of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses being wrongly accused of crimes, has described compensation schemes set up to support those impacted as a “patchwork quilt with some holes in it”. Between 2000 and 2014, 736 managers of local Post Office branches around the UK were convicted […]