News & what’s on

  • Subsidised anti-bribery help from the UK Government for SME’s. Eyes wide open: strings attached! - Tuesday, August 13, 2019 7:39 - 1 Comment
  • SFO Raid numbers don’t tell complete story as new Director lays foundations for years ahead - Wednesday, May 8, 2019 1:59 - 0 Comments
  • Our top 5: Predictions for 2019 - Saturday, January 5, 2019 0:27 - 0 Comments
  • Serious Fraud Office raids triple - Thursday, July 26, 2018 1:31 - 0 Comments
  • Opinion: New Serious Fraud Office Director Appointment reflects Americanisation of UK Corporate Crime Enforcement and represents opportunity for further harmonisation - Wednesday, June 6, 2018 2:10 - 0 Comments
  • Killing a corpse and a shot in the foot: Skansen Interiors - Wednesday, May 9, 2018 11:39 - 0 Comments
  • Opinion: The old rules still apply & always did. High Court rules litigation privilege applies in internal investigation post ENRC - Sunday, February 4, 2018 11:16 - 0 Comments
  • BE QUICK: 16 November: Tickets going fast…Roll up, Roll up – hear David Green QC’s Swan Song and Hui Chen in London at our annual reg conference - Monday, October 23, 2017 8:08 - 0 Comments
  • Opinion: Bertling convictions another notch on the SFO bedpost. Sentencing will provide a sibling to guilty plea disposal. - Tuesday, October 3, 2017 2:20 - 0 Comments
  • Opinion: Conservatives must answer two basic questions about the plan to merge the SFO into the NCA - Tuesday, May 23, 2017 4:41 - 0 Comments
  • Announcement of SFO merger into the NCA must be followed with detailed plans and assurances now - Thursday, May 18, 2017 14:04 - 0 Comments
  • At her Majesty’s pleasure. A right royal bribery scheme ends in convictions and prison “for quite a long time…”. - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 2:19 - 0 Comments
  • EXCLUSIVE: U turn on DPA’s. SFO Director points to concerns over lack of incentives for DPA’s while Sir Brian Leveson says DPA companies entitled to bigger discounts. - Monday, June 27, 2016 9:06 - 0 Comments
  • BREXIT. No change to present enforcement but proposals for new laws could be in tatters - Saturday, June 25, 2016 3:06 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: Biggest corporate criminal law shake up announced as part of UK Anti Corruption Summit - Thursday, May 12, 2016 10:00 - 0 Comments
  • All that glitters is not gold. Sweett & Smith & Ouzman sentences throw into sharp relief benefit of DPA deals - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 3:38 - 0 Comments
  • The Mackay Award – Scholarship to study digital communications in overseas election campaigns - Monday, February 29, 2016 6:40 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: SFO Director contract extension marks vote of confidence in agency turnaround - Tuesday, February 9, 2016 5:16 - 0 Comments
  • Picking over the bones of the Chickengate sentencing: The analysis - Monday, January 11, 2016 9:48 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: Chickens Come Home to Roost – Smith & Ouzman Ltd sentence and confiscation judgment handed down - Sunday, January 10, 2016 7:49 - 0 Comments
  • Standard Bank failure to prevent bribery. The Aston Martin Bribery Act case. Or a hot rod? - Sunday, December 6, 2015 11:42 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: FIRST FAILURE TO PREVENT BRIBERY DISPOSAL AGAINST A CORPORATE IN FIRST DPA - Monday, November 30, 2015 7:48 - 0 Comments
  • OPINION: First DPA a watershed moment in the history of UK corporate crime enforcement & significant moment for SFO - Sunday, November 29, 2015 3:21 - 0 Comments
  • Only 50 days until Christmas – Make all your wishes come true: SFO update…How to get a DPA - Wednesday, November 4, 2015 6:28 - 0 Comments
  • SFO Director means what he says…A letter from David Green CB QC: No “Get out of jail card for companies” - Tuesday, August 4, 2015 6:57 - 0 Comments
  • Opinion: As UK DPA Mania & rumour mill sets in. Pundits fundamentally misunderstand the SFO & UK regime - Sunday, July 26, 2015 11:55 - 0 Comments
  • FAIL: After 5 years – majority of SME’s don’t have sufficient knowledge about bribery finds Government Report - Sunday, July 5, 2015 6:43 - 1 Comment
  • First DPA invitation letters issued by SFO. The race is on for the first DPA. - Monday, May 25, 2015 0:01 - 1 Comment
  • Guilty. With a little help from it’s friends…SFO gets by with a little help from its friends. - Tuesday, May 12, 2015 1:12 - 0 Comments
  • The Battle of David and Goliath – Standard Economics vs. Behavioural Economics - Monday, May 4, 2015 11:24 - 1 Comment
  • A compliance dilemma as Easter approaches…Killing the goose that laid the golden egg? Jeremy Clarkson dropped by BBC. - Thursday, March 26, 2015 4:44 - 0 Comments
  • OPINION: It was so easy to avoid: Chickengate: Smith & Ouzman Sentencing Remarks in full under new sentencing guidelines - Sunday, February 15, 2015 4:34 - 2 Comments
  • BREAKING: Chickens come home to roost: Sentences handed down to Smith & Ouzman directors in ‘Chickengate’ - Thursday, February 12, 2015 11:33 - 0 Comments
  • Opinion: Less time than Bernie got. But a long time is on the cards for UK white collar offenders. - Sunday, February 1, 2015 8:41 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: SFO Christmas present – Smith & Ouzman & two former Directors convicted of bribes using ‘Chicken’ - Tuesday, December 23, 2014 3:12 - 0 Comments
  • Bribery an aggravator as Directors sentenced to a total of 28 years in prison - Monday, December 8, 2014 14:11 - 0 Comments
  • Didn’t get a contract because of a bribe & want to sue. We tell you how. - Sunday, November 16, 2014 4:25 - 0 Comments
  • Pinsent Masons Regulatory Conference – David Green confirms Anti-Bribery central plank underpinning Independent SFO - Sunday, October 26, 2014 23:09 - 0 Comments
  • Failure to prevent economic crime: seismic shift in criminal law – may happen with stroke of a pen - Wednesday, September 10, 2014 23:18 - 0 Comments
  • Pinsent Masons Regulatory Conference. October 23. International risk. - Sunday, September 7, 2014 1:32 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: David Green Reports SFO Progress at Cambridge Symposium - Wednesday, September 3, 2014 0:32 - 0 Comments
  • OPINION: SFO Whistleblowing data flags need for debate on incentivised whistleblowing & better use of money laundering disclosures - Sunday, August 31, 2014 12:24 - 1 Comment
  • Lawyer offers bribe payers cash back guarantee (some strings attached!) - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 5:54 - 1 Comment
  • REVIEW: The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in a new era by Mike Koehler – BUY IT - Friday, August 22, 2014 3:44 - 0 Comments
  • REVIEW: Holiday Reading: Bribery A Compliance Handbook - Tuesday, August 19, 2014 22:18 - 1 Comment
  • Supersize me: Innospec 4 sentencing remarks do much more than they say on the tin. - Monday, August 11, 2014 23:25 - 0 Comments
  • Holiday Reading: Book Review – How to pay a bribe 2014 Edited By Alexandra Wrage & Severin Wirz - Monday, August 11, 2014 6:52 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: 1st UK Anti-corruption plan imminent & corporate crime laws under review - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 6:09 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: Good news for the SFO in Innospec – Jury Convicts former CEO and Sales Director - Thursday, June 19, 2014 0:23 - 0 Comments
  • More joined up approach required: Only .5% chance a corruption suspicious activity report will be acted upon - Monday, June 2, 2014 5:30 - 0 Comments
  • Hello! Innospec woes as bribery losers sue for damages - Thursday, May 29, 2014 10:14 - 0 Comments
  • SFO School Report. B-. Could do better. - Wednesday, April 30, 2014 4:32 - 0 Comments
  • NEWSFLASH: Common sense prevails again! Prosecutors give credit for compliance programs in Norway too. - Wednesday, March 19, 2014 13:53 - 0 Comments
  • “I cannot help you on ethics” says David Green. We don’t believe him. - Sunday, March 9, 2014 4:47 - 0 Comments
  • Good news: SFO goes cap in hand again for money. - Sunday, March 2, 2014 8:09 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: SFO opens criminal investigation into Rolls Royce. Opinion: The stakes are high. - Monday, December 23, 2013 7:23 - 0 Comments
  • Key question for SFO after Dahdaleh collapse - Sunday, December 15, 2013 23:17 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: DPA’s in the Spring & a Dicky Bird tells us Bribery Act prosecutions ‘soon’… - Wednesday, December 4, 2013 15:50 - 0 Comments
  • Try harder. Politicians tell draftsmen to come up with tougher penalties for corporate crime. - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 14:37 - 0 Comments
  • Get the cash. Get the cash. Get the cash. Blockbuster funding & the wrinkle which means it’s not the complete answer. - Monday, November 4, 2013 1:54 - 0 Comments
  • Corporate prosecutions under the Bribery Act. Racing certainty or outsider? Watch this space. - Sunday, October 27, 2013 5:57 - 0 Comments
  • Corporate charged with corruption in UK - Wednesday, October 23, 2013 14:10 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: In the small print: Huge shake up in UK bribery enforcement, US style whistleblowing & UK False Claims Act - Monday, October 7, 2013 14:45 - 0 Comments
  • Scotland aims to stamp out public corruption with new unit - Thursday, September 26, 2013 3:24 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: Serious Fraud Office lays its first Bribery Act charges. - Thursday, August 15, 2013 0:20 - 0 Comments
  • UK climb down? Minister of Justice rules out watering down Bribery Act - Wednesday, July 17, 2013 0:10 - 0 Comments
  • Miss the Rolling Stones? Hear our recorded webinar instead with Vivian Robinson QC & Julian Glass: The Bribery Act 2 years on. What was all the fuss about. - Monday, July 8, 2013 23:41 - 0 Comments
  • BSI and City of London Police announce joint initiative to tackle anti-bribery compliance apathy - Monday, July 8, 2013 0:32 - 0 Comments
  • Big fines on the way? Proposed UK Corporate penalties take a leaf out of the US sentencing guidelines. - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 23:55 - 0 Comments
  • Another step towards US style enforcement. Respondent Superior on the cards for the UK? - Sunday, June 16, 2013 12:57 - 0 Comments
  • Possible Bribery Act review: Now is not the time to bring back Arthur Daley - Thursday, May 30, 2013 15:11 - 0 Comments
  • DPA law gets Royal Assent. Deferred Prosecution Agreements on track for 2014 - Saturday, April 27, 2013 3:27 - 1 Comment
  • This week see us speaking at the G20 Third Annual High-Level Anti-Corruption Conference for Governments and Business - Sunday, April 21, 2013 7:28 - 0 Comments
  • The Met, City of London Police & SOCA spearheading additional £8 million crackdown on overseas corruption - Sunday, March 24, 2013 10:40 - 0 Comments
  • Parliament report calls for Bribery Act review: Our opinion – Junk in. Junk Out. - Thursday, March 14, 2013 15:27 - 1 Comment
  • One for the half of UK PLC who are reckless gamblers: A stitch in time saves nine! - Sunday, March 10, 2013 11:10 - 1 Comment
  • Time(table) for Deferred Prosecution Agreements - Wednesday, March 6, 2013 1:19 - 0 Comments
  • New revised Code for Crown Prosecutors, By Anne-Marie Ottaway - Sunday, February 10, 2013 7:21 - 0 Comments
  • Knock knock. Who’s there? The Police. Join us for our Dawn Raid seminars nationwide UK - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 10:29 - 4 Comments
  • The devil in the detail & the dangers of not self reporting - Monday, December 10, 2012 23:25 - 0 Comments
  • Isle of Man introduces Bribery Bill to follow suit with the UK - Tuesday, December 4, 2012 15:05 - 0 Comments
  • It’s all about the money: SFO Director on why the SFO will NEVER turn down investigation because SFO doesn’t have enough money - Thursday, November 29, 2012 0:01 - 0 Comments
  • David Green lays out the core purpose of the SFO to House of Commons Justice Committee - Wednesday, November 28, 2012 1:29 - 0 Comments
  • Report identifies 8 things the SFO should do better – offers (some) praise too - Monday, November 26, 2012 1:40 - 0 Comments
  • A Brits eye perspective on the Remarks by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer at the American Conference Institute’s 28th National Conference on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act - Friday, November 16, 2012 9:36 - 1 Comment
  • Gambling is a risky business: David Green QC – SFO should “never” refuse to investigate for lack of funds - Wednesday, November 14, 2012 7:23 - 0 Comments
  • We are joined by a former SFO prosecutor & a new agony aunt & etiquette expert Di Lemma. - Tuesday, November 6, 2012 17:28 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING:86% say they want Deferred Prosecution Agreements. And they are going to get them. - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 3:27 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: Deferred Prosecution Agreements could be a reality as early as next year - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 0:11 - 0 Comments
  • It’s all about the money. A picture of a new SFO funding model begins to emerge as new Director sharpens the knives… - Wednesday, October 17, 2012 5:49 - 1 Comment
  • Self Reporting to the SFO: Still on the menu – but advice will be critical - Monday, October 15, 2012 15:05 - 0 Comments
  • MADNESS: 1/4 of Board Directors surveyed say they’d bribe to win business. - Wednesday, October 10, 2012 14:16 - 0 Comments
  • BREAKING: Harsher, tougher, blunter: SFO publishes position on corporate hospitality, facilitation payments & self reporting - Tuesday, October 9, 2012 3:55 - 1 Comment
  • OPINION: Confusion must not fill the vacuum following removal of SFO guidance - Monday, October 1, 2012 13:27 - 0 Comments
  • SFO guidance on corporate hospitality and facilitation payments about to change? May be. - Sunday, September 23, 2012 15:34 - 1 Comment
  • 30th International Symposium on Economic Crime: University of Cambridge: SFO Director speech - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 13:23 - 1 Comment
  • 30th International Symposium on Economic Crime: University of Cambridge: Attorney General speech - Tuesday, September 4, 2012 11:41 - 0 Comments
  • Time to check the D&O cover. Moral hazard for prosecutors may create a two tier criminal defence system. - Monday, August 20, 2012 15:03 - 0 Comments
  • A new sheriff is coming to town & LIBOR Fixing Report criticism of the FSA could be a game changer for UK enforcement. - Sunday, August 19, 2012 13:00 - 0 Comments
  • Book review: How to pay a bribe – thinking like a criminal to thwart bribery schemes - Thursday, August 9, 2012 6:54 - 1 Comment
  • Brought to you by...

    Barry Vitou &
    Richard Kovalevsky Q.C.

    The views expressed on this website are those of Barry Vitou & Richard Kovalevsky QC and/or our guest authors from time to time. Please see our terms of use