Multi Million Pound Fraud Southwark Crown Court not proceeded with 2024

Client matter put to lie on file following ten-year fraud investigation

The client, a professional, was accused of conspiracy to commit fraud by abuse of position and committing fraud, and was subsequently prosecuted by HMRC. This offence occurs when someone occupies a position in which they were expected to safeguard, or not to act against the financial interests of another, and dishonestly abuses that position by misappropriating payments intending to make a gain for themselves or to cause a loss to another contrary to s.4 of the Fraud Act 2006. The amount involved was said to be in the millions and the fraud was alleged to have been committed over several years.  There were three co-defendants involved and we represented a further client. The client and two of his co-defendants co-founded a company and were accused of charging tax to clients whilst failing to pass this tax to HMRC. The alleged fraudulent activity came to the attention of the authorities in 2011, the investigation officially commenced in 2014. The first trial started in 2023. At the end of the prosecution’s case the judge ordered that one of our clients be discharged due to insufficiency of evidence. Further, the trial against our remaining client was stopped following the client’s ill health. The judge ordered medical reports to confirm this and subsequently the trial was refixed for 2024. However, in mid-2024, as a result of the medical reports obtained, the judge effectively stopped the trial permanently by ordering that the indictment should lie on the file, not to be proceeded without leave of the court. This means the case has ended without a conviction. We provided considerable support to two clients in the case for over 10 years.