Blog
Press Round-Up: Regulatory and Professional Discipline – May 2026
Jack Garden
31 May 2017
Tough action against solicitor who laundered proceeds of bogus investment scheme
The Central Criminal Court made confiscation orders last week against the two final defendants who were convicted of offences following one of the FCA’s largest investigations into unauthorised investment activity.
7 September 2016
Anti-money laundering and social responsibility: keeping the Gambling Commission at bay
The £800,000 settlement that bookmaker Betfred agreed with the Gambling Commission (14 June 2016) is the latest in a steady stream of cases involving inadequate anti-money laundering (AML) controls within the UK’s gambling sector. Betfred accepted that thousands of pounds of cash which had been stolen by Matthew Stevens, one of their “VIP” customers, had not been detected by their systems and neither had his gambling habit which, he later said in his own mitigation, had caused him to steal money from his employer.
27 July 2016
SFO Annual Report – stats, facts and figures
The SFO Annual Report and Accounts for 2015-2016 were laid before parliament on 20 July 2016.
This coincided with commentary and speculation in the legal press that SFO might be in danger of being merged with the National Crime Agency – a stated ambition of Theresa May for a number of years.
11 July 2016
Anti-Money Laundering: European Commission seeks further change
As politicians and the media focus on the potential consequences of the outcome of the UK’s EU Referendum, there is some hint of business-as-usual as the European Commission continues its reform of the anti-money laundering regime with proposals to amend the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive.
23 May 2016
Criminal Finance Bill: legislative action to back up political commitments
One of the questions following the Anti-Corruption Summit and the media furore over the Panama Papers was whether legislative proposals (and related law enforcement resources) would be delivered to underpin high level political commitments. Seeming to answer this the Queen’s Speech confirmed that a Criminal Finance Bill will be presented to tackle corruption, money laundering and tax evasion - key commitments from the Summit.
