Recent Cases

• R v. A [Aylesbury] 2020

  Employee theft of £45k by manipulating computer records

  Sam Willis was instructed by the CPS Complex Casework Unit to prosecute this theft case. The Defendant had been manipulating the computer records at her workplace, in order to steal £45k during her three years of employment. Sam was able to use his previous IT experience in order to collate and condense the 500 pages of computer evidence into a clear schedule for the jury.

• R v T & 12 Others [Leeds Crown Court] 2020

  Money Laundering

  Rupert Kent was instructed by Kangs Solicitors as a junior alone (QC application pending) in this 13-handed money laundering case, involving the alleged laundering of £260m in the proceeds of crime. The case comprises 15,000 pages of evidence, and the trial has a four-month time-estimate.

• R v G & 5 Others [Southwark Crown Court] 2020

  Money Laundering

  Rupert Kent was instructed by the CPS as a junior alone (two-counsel application pending) in this six-handed money laundering case, involving the activities of a bureau-de-change concerned in the large-scale laundering of criminal pound sterling into Euro currency.

• Operation Radiator [Manchester Crown Court] 2020

  Revenue Evasion & Money Laundering

  Rupert Kent was instructed by the CPS Specialist Fraud Division as junior alone in this three-handed revenue evasion case, arising from an HMRC investigation into the activities of a UK-based organised criminal network involved in the evasion of £41.5m in tobacco duty, and the smuggling of £6.7m in cash out of the UK.

• R v. S [Croydon] 2020

  Evasion of duty on 150,000 cigarettes

  Sam Willis was instructed by the specialist fraud unit to prosecute this case of ‘tobacco smuggling’. The defendant had been importing, storing and selling cigarettes for over three years, without paying any import duty or VAT on them.

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Notable Cases

• In the matter of M [Southwark] 2018

  Manipulation of interbank benchmark rates

  Natasha Wong QC acted for former derivatives trader in regulatory proceedings brought by the FCA and in criminal proceedings involving the alleged dishonest manipulation of interbank benchmark rates. Instructed by Withers Worldwide/Sternberg Reed.

• Operation Lunar [Birmingham] 2017

  £Multi-Million HMRC Tax Avoidance Prosecution

  Sarah Forshaw QC and Robert Ellison acted in the defence of this defendant charged with 10 others of a multi-million pound  conspiracy to cheat HMRC. The fraud centred around multiple tax avoidance schemes. The charges were dismissed against our client following legal argument. The trial on the remaining defendants is listed for 6 months in 2019. Instructed by King and Spalding LLP.

• Operation Canon [Southwark] 2016

  £80m Ponzi Scheme

  Sarah Forshaw QC, instructed by the SFO, successfully prosecuted this £80m "Ponzi" scheme. The defendants purported to be a successful supplier of electrical goods such as light bulbs, air conditioning units, trouser presses and televisions to major hotel chains such as the Marriott and Hilton. They also falsely claimed to be the preferred supplier of the Olympic village, ahead of the 2012 Games.

  https://www.sfo.gov.uk/2016/05/24/ponzi-fraudsters-sentenced-total-21-years/

• Operation Cent [C.C.C.] 2013

  Anti-corruption unit worldwide investigation re: bomb detection units

  Jonathan Higgs QC leading Jonathan Polnay represented a defendant in the much publicised Old Bailey trial involving the worldwide sale of "fake" bomb detection devices. Instructed by Gary Bloxsome of Blackfords LLP.

  BBC news report here.

• HMRC v Peter Storrie [Southwark] 2011

  Former chief executive of Portsmouth City Football Club accused of cheating the public revenue

  Natasha Wong QC was junior trial counsel for acquitted former chief executive of Portsmouth City Football Club accused of cheating the public revenue. Instructed by Paul Martin & Co.