Welcome to Allen & Overy’s Investigations Insight blog, sharing with you our views and insights into the latest trends, risks and developments in financial services investigations
SEC disgorgement – It’s now or never
08 June 2017 Rebecca Delfiner
When is a penalty a “penalty,” and why does it matter? The question is whether SEC-mandated disgorgement of illicit profits is a “penalty” under the law, and the decision is Kokesh v. SEC. Why do we care? A “penalty” is subject to a five-year statute of limitations under 28 U.S.C. §2462. Per a unanimous panel, › Read More
Whistleblower update: Normal service resumes at the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower
07 June 2017 Kurt Wolfe
Things went conspicuously quiet at the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower after President Trump took office. Over the past several weeks, however, there have been a number of interesting developments at the Whistleblower Office, which remind us that the SEC’s whistleblower program is still up and running. In this blog, we take a look at › Read More
Is it the end of the road for the SFO?
31 May 2017 Blair Keown
The Conservative Party has pledged in its manifesto to incorporate the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into the National Crime Agency (NCA). As Home Secretary, Theresa May twice tried unsuccessfully to restructure the SFO. In 2011, she proposed sending the SFO’s investigators to the NCA and its prosecutors to the Crown Prosecution Service. In 2014, reports › Read More
09 May 2017 Calum Macdonald
On 27 April, the Criminal Finances Bill received Royal Assent. Now the Criminal Finances Act 2017, it represents the most significant development in the UK’s anti-money laundering regime in more than a decade and the largest expansion of corporate criminal liability since the Bribery Act 2010. We have covered key parts of the Criminal Finances Act previously › Read More
Full disclosure: Where can documents disclosed to the regulator end up?
04 May 2017 Stacey McEvoy
Confidential and highly sensitive information is routinely shared with the financial services regulators to enable them to perform their statutory functions. But with whom can the regulators share the information they receive? And how can those parties use the information? There is a statutory prohibition (section 348 FSMA) restricting disclosure of confidential information shared with › Read More