Ross Dixon sounds warning on fairness of Deferred Prosecution Agreements

Business Crime partner Ross Dixon has appeared in the Times newspaper to question the fairness of Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPA) as they impact individuals.

Drawing on his deep experience representing individuals accused of fraud-related crimes following a DPA signed between the SFO and a company, Ross identifies ‘inconsistenc[ies] between the basis on which the DPA is done and the underlying evidence’ as a ‘common factor’ in these cases.

Ross highlights this as one reason for the SFO’s repeated failure to achieve criminal convictions of individuals in prosecutions brought after a DPA.

‘It is as if the prize of a DPA acts like a magnet on a compass, influencing prosecution case theory and the way in which evidence is interpreted when such an agreement is in sight”, Ross argues.

Ross’ full article is here or as a downloadable pdf below.