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Financial and White Collar Crime

In an increasingly vigorous enforcement environment, we understand international businesses need an effective and transparent response to financial crime.

CMS' specialist lawyers in London and Scotland regularly advise clients on all aspects of internal and external investigations and the associated risks, including reputation and crisis management. Specifically, we assist clients with:

  • All matters of financial crime (bribery, money laundering, fraud, accounting irregularities) and all their implications.
  • Conducting internal investigations, often cross-border and multi-jurisdictional.
  • Interactions with the authorities (Police, CPS, SFO, NCA, Crown Office, HMRC and other enforcement/regulatory authorities, including multilateral development banks).
  • External investigations, prosecutions and other enforcement action.
  • Crisis management, including raids and avoiding adverse media.
  • Corporate compliance and risk mitigation, including developing controls.
  • Dealing with all civil claims arising from the issues, including using the civil processes available to help client achieve the most effective outcomes and recover funds where they are victims.

Working with colleagues across the Risk and Investigations group, as well as through our international network, we can immediately mobilise international teams to provide seamless, specialist advice on multi-jurisdictional issues. When we need to get to key evidence quickly, we also make use of cutting-edge technology available in-house such as CMS Brainspace, our market-leading data visualisation tool developed by the CIA.

Our recent experience related to financial crime includes:

  • Acting in the first contested prosecution of a corporate for failure to prevent bribery under s.7 Bribery Act 2010.
  • Acting for a UK construction company in investigating and self-reporting bribery concerns in an acquired business. The SFO and police declined to take further action.
  • Conducting several investigations for a global pharmaceutical company following whistleblower allegations and advising on interactions with the various regulators.
  • Conducting an internal investigation for a UK listed tech business concerning market abuse regulation and reporting findings to the FCA.
  • Advising an international media company (including several internal investigations) on bribery and money laundering concerns regarding activities in the Far East, Turkiye and India.

What clients say about us:

  • Omar Qureshi is “one of those people who is genuinely interested by what he does. He is a specialist – he has that investigative specialism in bribery and corruption and he really gets it."
  • Eoin O'Shea "His judgement is excellent and he is dedicated and committed to his clients." 
  • Colin Hutton “clearly laid out the legal strategies and negotiation plans", and "was encouragingly assured at all times".

To find out more about other related services you can visit the Risk and Investigations expertise section.

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