Business Crime & Fraud

Regulators around the world are putting businesses, their employees and contractors under increased scrutiny in a bid to curb business crime and fraud. In the UK, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 brought into effect changes to the identification principle to make it easier to prosecute a corporation by placing responsibility on senior managers. It also makes failure to prevent fraud a strict liability offence, similar to that of bribery or failure to prevent tax evasion.

Not abiding by strict anti-money laundering rules also has serious consequences for individuals and businesses: fines from the industry regulator, reputational damage and potential criminal or civil liability.

4BB Chambers has an outstanding reputation for the skilful prosecution and defence of white-collar crime cases. Whether providing pre-charge advice or steering clients through complex and protracted document-heavy trials, we cover the full range of business crime and fraud offences, including cases with an international dimension. Resident expertise includes tax fraud, money laundering, financial crime, bribery and corruption and breaches of Trading Standards.

Members regularly act for the prosecuting agencies including the DWP and HMRC, helping them to build compelling cases focused on frauds against the government.  We also advise the SFO on the prosecution of individuals. On the defence side, we counsel senior management, company directors, bankrupts and “phoenix” companies, combining our legal perspective with practical steps that take into account the personal, reputational and commercial implications of court action.

With the significant overlap between civil and criminal practice in the business crime and fraud sphere, 4BB barristers are primed to prepare a case on multiple fronts.  We have a deep understanding of process; how criminal and civil restraint proceedings work in the High Court and Crown Court, of confiscation proceedings and the merits of the comparable routes of civil or criminal recovery. Familiarity with the methods by which business crime and fraud cases are navigated by the different prosecuting agencies, including the use of whistleblowers and the negotiation of deferred prosecution agreements, is a given.