Regulation and investigations

Speak up and other internal investigations are on the rise (see our article here) amid increasing scrutiny from the media, public, authorities and other stakeholders of how investigations are conducted. Indeed, in higher profile matters the way in which an investigation is conducted can receive as much attention as the underlying issues.

The recent

The UK failure to prevent fraud offence has been long awaited. We are receiving a number of queries from clients about when the UK government’s “reasonable procedures” guidance is due to be published, when the offence will come into force and what they should be doing now to prepare.

In short:

  • we expect the “reasonable

This is the second article in our series breaking down the steps that companies will need to take to put in place “reasonable procedures” to prevent fraud. Our first post, which focussed on how to conduct effective fraud risk assessments, can be found here.  

This comes ahead of the new UK failure to

Many companies are currently considering what steps they need to take in relation to the new UK failure to prevent fraud offence (which is expected to come into force later this year or in early 2025).

By way of recap, a company will be liable for failing to prevent fraud by its associated persons (e.g.

Regardless of your position on whether cryptocurrency is a legitimate method of payment, you can’t deny its permeation into mainstream society recently.  From donations to Ottawa “freedom” protests[1] to countries approving bitcoin as legal tender,[2] the use of cryptocurrency is emerging beyond the dark web.

But with use comes misuse. In 2021, there

Les dirigeants et administrateurs canadiens devraient bien prendre en note les changements de priorités en matière d’application des dispositions pénales aux États-Unis. Dans de récents discours lors de la tenue de la 37e édition du National Institute on White Collar Crime de l’ABA, le procureur général des États-Unis, Merrick Garland, et le procureur général

Increasing enforcement of anti-bribery and corruption regulations and an increased focus on compliance have made a pre-acquisition compliance due diligence a common feature of cross-border M&A transactions in Africa and elsewhere. Many experienced transaction attorneys and dealmakers will be aware of the limits of even the most thorough due diligence. This has led to concerns