As Robert Burns wrote, freedom and whisky may ‘gang thegither’ but it is fraud and wine making a fine pairing in the news recently by way of two separate examples of dishonest wine investment schemes.
Global Wine Exchange Limited
The first concerns Global Wine Exchange Limited (“Global”), which was wound-up in the public interest on 22 March 2022 following abuse of more than £1.9m of clients’ funds in a wine investment scheme.
Another interesting summary in the Times reporting on the staggering levels of fraud committed against the UK taxpayer during the pandemic. Whilst the Insolvency Service are clearly doing their best to hold fraudsters to account through disqualification orders and similar punitive measures, it appears that we are no closer to a financial recovery of any meaningful value, or at the very least imposing real financial pain on those who took advantage of the country’s generosity in the face of the unprecedented challenges of the Covid pandemic.
Here are a couple long-standing and foundational policies for the entire bankruptcy system:
- Bankruptcy laws protect the honest but unfortunate debtor; and
- Discharge exceptions are to be strictly construed against the objecting creditor and liberally construed in favor of debtor.
So, for all my decades of practice under the Bankruptcy Code, this idea has held sway: an honest debtor is entitled to a bankruptcy discharge.
In a damning indictment of the government's handling of the bounce back loan scheme, the Times are reporting that up to £17bn of the £47bn spent by the government on bounce back loans will never be paid back. Of the irrecoverable sums, around £4.9bn is suspected to have been lost to fraud.
This article was originally published by ThoughtLeaders4 FIRE.
Introduction
There was a distinct air of positivity and delight to be out and about networking again at the FIRE Starters Global Summit in Dublin. Once again the event was well attended by a wonderful and dynamic group of international professionals from across the advisory spectrum in asset recovery, fraud and insolvency and many new networks were forged over the fun three-day event.
Over recent months we have seen numerous references in the press to investigations into Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) fraud. A year ago the National Audit Office estimated that around 11% of the loans granted (some £4.9bn) were procured fraudulently. More recent official estimates suggest the figure is between £3.3bn and £5bn.
Needless to say attempting to recover these funds is a enormous task. The National Crime Agency is investigating some of the biggest cases, but equally banks and HMRC are actively seeking to identify fraud and recover the loans.
La CNMV ha publicado un documento con “preguntas y respuestas” que pretende servir de ayuda en la interpretación por las sociedades cotizadas del régimen de operaciones vinculadas tras la reforma introducida por la Ley 5/2021 para la incorporación de la Directiva sobre derechos de los accionistas en las sociedades cotizadas. A continuación, se incluye un resumen de los criterios interpretativos ofrecidos por el organismo supervisor.
Referencias Jurídicas CMS
Artículos de fondo
L’anno 2021 ha visto il susseguirsi di numerosi interventi legislativi con un rilevante impatto sulla responsabilità amministrativa da reato degli enti. Il presente aggiornamento ha lo scopo di riassumere e fornire un quadro delle modifiche intervenute al D.lgs. 231/2001 e delle norme che, per motivi diversi, lo richiamano, rendendo di fatto l’adozione di un Modello di Organizzazione e Gestione un adempimento ormai imprescindibile per molte organizzazioni.
AMPLIAMENTO DEI REATI PRESUPPOSTO
We are happy to present the second issue of our e-magazine – Trilegal Quarterly Roundup.
A number of key decisions from the English courts in 2021 illustrate the litigation trends that are likely to have implications for the financial services industry in 2022 and beyond (see below “Cases to watch in 2022”).
Market misconduct and mis-selling
In the first of a series of claims issued by ECU Group Plc in relation to alleged wrongdoing in the foreign exchange markets by a number of banks, the High Court held that: