Victims of Business Crime

Where criminality occurs within a company there is often a double blow. Not only may there be direct or indirect financial loss, but the company itself may fall under investigation. Although it may be clear to directors that an individual’s actions were outside the scope of their authority, investigative agencies may take a different view. A company may then face time-consuming investigations aimed at establishing its complicity in the action of an employee.

The risk this poses to a company’s reputation and continued working may be considerable. A business in this situation needs early advice from an expert in corporate crime to avoid digging a deeper hole.

An external lawyer can advise with complete confidentiality inside the veil of privilege. Privilege may cover an internal review, and create a safe space in which strategies for damage limitation can be worked out. We offer a sophisticated service to such companies, providing clear and practical advice as to the companies’ reporting obligations and vicarious liability,  and the pitfalls ahead.

We can also assist where investigatory and regulatory bodies overstep their powers.  Search warrants of business premises may be challenged by judicial review and compensation sought where police action has caused financial loss and reputational damage.

We cover a wide variety of situations including those where employees have carried out cash transactions in breach of money laundering regulations, offered or received inducements for contracts, or abused their market position.

Where there are significant financial losses we recommend that our business client employs a fraud tracing and recovery team. We partner several major city firms in such work, advising on how best to deploy the criminal justice machinery to ensure it supports the company’s goals rather than placing them in jeopardy.

Regulatory systems increasingly place responsibility on companies to regulate their own internal systems on risk of corporate criminal responsibility for failure. The Corruption Act 2007 is one of many examples of this approach. We can help design systems and approaches to prevent and counter different kinds of fraud. Precautionary action of this nature will protect the companies’ interests both against unscrupulous employees and against regulatory action.