24 Jun 2022 Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation: looking to upscale and upskill By Neill Blundell Helen Harvey Helin Gurel On Wednesday 22 June, the director of the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI”), Giles Thomson, speaking to the House of...
15 Jun 2022 New strict liability offence for financial sanctions comes into force today, amongst others By Neill Blundell Francis Bond Jessica Arapu Following the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022’s expedited passage through Parliament in March 2022, the Office of...
23 May 2022 Laughable that sanctions might not apply to crypto? It is according to this US judge By Neill Blundell Helen Harvey In a recently unsealed court document from the US, the judge quoted comedy show, Saturday Night Live, in support of his unequivocal...
20 May 2022 The FCA unveils new reporting platform for sanctions breaches By Neill Blundell Francis Bond Georgia O'Connor The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a new financial sanctions evasion reporting platform for regulated entities, in a bid...
04 May 2022 The Chancellor announces a £25 million “fraud squad” to recover £5 billion By Lorna Emson Max Hobbs Georgia O'Connor The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced a new “fraud squad” to recover money stolen from the state-backed Covid Bounce Back Loan...
19 Apr 2022 £2.7 million fine for breach of UK arms controls: but why the lack of transparency? By Helen Harvey Neill Blundell Georgia O'Connor It has just been announced that in February of this year, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) fined an unidentified UK company circa £2.7 million...
10 Mar 2022 The Economic Crime Bill: passed at rapid speed By Neill Blundell Max Hobbs The House of Commons passed the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill (ECB) on Monday, after an extraordinarily speedy...
28 Feb 2022 Economic Crime Bill to be fast-tracked this week: transparency reform, UWO changes and new sanctions legislation By Lorna Emson Francis Bond Joe Gaffney Prompted by the crisis in Ukraine, the UK Government has announced that it will bring forward the Economic Crime Bill. It has also...
18 Feb 2022 UK widens sanctions, potential retaliation by Russia and international regulators urge restraint By Neill Blundell David Gauke Francis Bond The crisis at the Russia/Ukraine border continues to provoke reverberations for the global financial sanctions framework, with threats...
18 Feb 2022 Policy in practice: Russian sanctions By David Gauke Francis Bond David Gauke and Francis Bond discuss the potential financial sanctions options available to the UK Government in responding to the...
14 Feb 2022 Fighting economic crime in the UK: an overview By Neill Blundell Max Hobbs Joe Gaffney On Thursday 10 February, the House of Commons Library published a briefing paper on economic crime in the UK, which summarises recent...
10 Feb 2022 The Economic Crime Bill: reform is coming By Neill Blundell Max Hobbs Joe Gaffney We recently commented on a fortnight of fast-paced developments in the economic crime space. As we observed, it appears that (despite...
08 Feb 2022 New register of home ownership? Sadiq Khan calls for a register of foreign-owned UK property to aid Russia sanctions By Lorna Emson Max Hobbs Francis Bond Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has issued a call for a new register of foreign-owned properties in the UK, citing the fact that the...
21 Oct 2021 UK Parliamentary Group seeks sanctions against corrupt global actors By Neill Blundell Francis Bond The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Magnitsky Sanctions (“APPG”), co-chaired by MPs Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Chris Bryant, was formally...
04 Nov 2020 Art attack: sanctions risk in the art world By Helen Harvey Neill Blundell The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued an advisory on 30 October to highlight sanctions risks...
20 Aug 2020 FCA investigations into sanctions matters shrinks By Aalia Datoo A FOIA submitted by the Global Investigations Review has revealed that the number of open investigations into sanctions breaches by the...