These
are our some of our cases of note:
R v
Nadir
Description:
Bark & Co have
been instructed by the former CEO of Polly Peck International (PPI) in an
alleged multi-million pound fraud. The client faced 66 counts of Fraud &
Theft, but failed to appear in the 1993 trial. Mr Nadir has returned to the UK
to fight to clear his name.
The
trial date is now set for January 2012.
Significance:
One of the first
high profile SFO prosecutions.
R v Ravjani & Others
Bark
& Co represented a client accused significant involvement in a complex
contra-trading MTIC fraud. The alleged fraud was of a scale that prompted the
Government to proffer the case as an explanation as to why the UK balance of
payments were adrift for a particular year. Unfortunately, reporting
restrictions prevent us from publishing the full outcome at this time.
R v X
Description: This matter involves an insider trading investigation at a
number of banks and hedge funds and other large financial institutions
conducted by the FSA and SOCA which Reuters reports has “sent shockwaves
through the country's financial industry”.
Significance: This case involves significant press interest and involves
the representation of a director at a very high profile financial institution.
R v CC & PF
Description: This case involves the arrest of nine directors of an
ethical investment company investing in the energy sector. The value of the
alleged fraud, which related to the company’s tax structure, is in excess of
£85 million. It raises questions on the differences between tax evasion and tax
avoidance. The company obtained tax benefits for research and development in
the energy sector and secured investment from 750 specialist private
investors.
Significance: This case will have far reaching consequences for the whole
of the ethical carbon offsetting industry, as well as for all companies with
similar tax structures. The company in question was advised by tax specialists
and lawyers regarding the legislation involved. HMRC allege that the complex
nature of the related companies and tax structures were formed for the specific
reason of perpetrating a fraud while the company states that they were not only
legitimate but standard industry practice.
R v F & P (Vantis Tax)
Description: We acted for former senior executives for a specialist tax
division of Vantis Plc defending allegations of cheating the public revenue.
They both vigorously deny the allegations made against them.
Significance: This case involves extremely complex tax, share valuation
and trust issues, and raises serious questions concerning the boundaries of tax
avoidance schemes and their use. It attracted significant media interest with
coverage in the nationals and trade press.
R v S & Others
Description: Bark & Co is representing a client who is involved in a
wide ranging FSA investigation into an alleged 11-handed insider dealing fraud.
This matter revolves around a spread-betting company that was used to place
derivative trades on share price movements. Trades were made close to, or
before, significant and unexpected company announcements which influenced the
share price in the direction of the placed trade. It is alleged that a ring of
traders, some of whom had no previous experience in spread betting, were
organised to perpetrate the fraud with the insider information originating from
two well-known investment banks.
Significance: The value of the alleged fraud is over £3 million and
involved insider information on more than 25 companies that the investment
banks dealt with. This case is still at the investigation stage but charges are
being brought.
R v W, W, W & D (Southwark Crown Court)
Description: Our client is charged with conspiracy to defraud and money
laundering offences. This case follows a joint FSA and City of London Police
operation and investigation into a boiler room fraud. It is alleged that
several companies that were seeking venture capital were used as vehicles to
generate appropriate share capital to sell to victims based in the UK. The boiler
rooms were based overseas and unregulated by the FSA. They generated over £30
million in income which was then filtered through a complex network of
companies and holding accounts and into UK and offshore accounts.
Significance: The fraud is so large that the FSA has determined that it is
limiting the case to six primary front companies. Not only is this case a good
example of the scale and increasing prevalence of this type of fraud, it also
demonstrates how international operations are being used to bypass the UK
financial regulators and authorities.
R v S, R, D, S, S & T (Southwark Crown Court)
Description: This was a six-handed prosecution of the founders and
associates of the “Confidential Access” website. Our client is alleged to have
used his business to facilitate the sale of false identity documents that were
used to commit fraud and crime. The identity documents, which included
passports, P45s, bank statements and other financial and identity documents,
were marketed and sold as legal “novelty items”, but their accuracy means they
were used by clients who were being investigated by the Metropolitan Police
anti-terrorism unit. In a joint operation with the Hong Kong Organised Crime
Team, the Confidential Access website was temporarily shut down and the servers
and business records seized. The website subsequently reopened in another
county and the authorities entered into an ongoing battle across several
jurisdictions to force the website to close down.
Significance: This case provides a unique insight into the type of
identity-based frauds that will become more commonplace in the future. It also
shows the difficulties involved in dealing with international and
cross-jurisdictional issues surrounding internet free trade and international
payment systems. Not surprisingly, the case attracted media attention, although
the details remain confidential.
R v L (Southwark Crown Court)
Description: Our client in this case is being re-tried after a trial held
in 2008 failed to reach a verdict. The client is charged with cheating the
public revenue of £250 million in a large-scale and complex MTIC VAT fraud in
the mobile phone handset market.
Significance: The scale of the operation and subsequent investigation was
impressive, with 42 arrests in 2003, 96 sets of premises searched and 260
computers and 500,000 documents seized, as well as substantial amounts of
electronic data. This fraud is serious and involves highly complex forensic
accountancy and international funds tracing aspects. Again, it has attracted considerable
media attention.
R v L (Southwark Crown Court)
Description: iSoft was awarded a multi-million pound contract to
implement an All Ireland software system. Bark & Co is representing a
former director in connection with alleged accounting irregularities in
relation to this contract. This case is in the FSA's own words the largest case
they have ever investigated.
Significance: iSoft were involved in the implementation of the new NHS IT
system, a large and politically sensitive project and the case has received
extensive press coverage. It has therefore required extremely sensitive
handling. The issues involved are also particularly complex and involve
forensic legal and accountancy analysis.
iSoft related cases (representing X)
Description: iSoft was awarded a multi-million pound contract to
implement an All Ireland software system. Bark & Co is representing a
former director in connection with alleged accounting irregularities in
relation to this contract. This case is in the FSA's own words the largest case
they have ever investigated.
Significance: iSoft were involved in the implementation of the new NHS IT
system, a large and politically sensitive project and the case has received
extensive press coverage. It has therefore required extremely sensitive
handling. The issues involved are also particularly complex and involve
forensic legal and accountancy analysis.
R v R
Description: This is said to be among the biggest MTIC carousel frauds
ever prosecuted. It involves a particularly complex form of MTIC fraud called
‘contra-trading’. Here, the perpetrator mixes a ‘clean’ chain of transactions
and a ‘dirty’ chain. The key is that they act as importer in the clean chain
and exporter in the dirty one, therefore offsetting legal imports against illegal
exports, making the VAT claim relatively balanced and the fraud far harder to
detect.
Significance: This case is said to be one of the biggest MTIC frauds ever
prosecuted and involves billions of pounds worth of trade. It will give rise to
national publicity and widespread public concern because MTIC fraud has become
so widespread that it is responsible for the UK trade figures being completely
miscalculated. In this instance there has been £170 million of fraud identified
within the telecoms sector involving the international trading of mobile
phones. Contra-trading is an increasing growth area of specialist defence where
Bark & Co is among the leaders. This case has at present over 60,000 pages
of exhibited prosecution materials with over 100,000 expected, making the
estimated cost of prosecuting the case substantial (more than £1million).
R v L, R & H
Description: This was a high-profile SFO prosecution concerning
fraudulent trading. The prosecution alleges that there was fraudulent trading
over a 3-4 year period at Alfred McAlpine Slate Limited. This took the form of
false invoicing and the concealment of the false information from the parent
company, Alfred McAlpine plc, and their auditors, by way of forged loans,
invoices and manipulation of management packs.
Significance: This case was the subject of a three-month internal
investigation by PMCE Coopers Waterhouse and the City law firm, Ashurst. Press
interest is high and the case has appeared on Sky News, in The Times,
and The Guardian, as well as local papers, financial journals and Reuters.
It is alleged that the discovery of the fraud led to a drop in the McAlpine
Slate share price and contributed to the acquisition of McAlpine by Carillion
plc. With over 50,000 pages of served evidence, this case was both complex and
high profile. We were successful in achieving a lenient sentence for our
client.
R v Lord Rodley, Coyne & Others
Description: This case involved a conspiracy to defraud the SMBC Bank in
London of £227 million and money laundering the proceeds of the fraud. A
security guard at SMBC bank, who had access to its computer system, allowed two
Belgium computer experts entry into the bank and access to the computer systems
outside working hours. They hacked into the bank’s systems to obtain passwords
and to transfer funds to accounts set up to launder the proceeds of this fraud.
Significance:Three defendants stood a fully contended cut-throat trial.
Our client (David Coyne aka Nash) is alleged to have been involved both in the
main plan to defraud the bank and the money laundering as he was the owner of
several offshore bank accounts that were allegedly set up to receive the funds
R v F, D & Others
Description: The case results from an investigation into a successful
multi-million pound international lottery scam, which began with a complaint
concerning unsolicited e-mails from the Philippines. The scam involved claims
that the victim would be the beneficiary of a percentage of an estate worth
$10.2 million.
Significance: The alarm was raised by Barclays Bank in New York. A joint
investigation by the FBI and Metropolitan Police then uncovered a number of
victims of the fraud, who were resident in various places, ranging from the
USA, to Malaysia, Japan and the Middle East. The joint investigation resulted
in six arrests. This case demonstrates our ability to handle complex
international fraud cases, requiring the gathering of evidence and information
in a number of jurisdictions.
