Fraud & Complex Crime
Clarke Kiernan
Fraud & Complex Crime
Financial matters can see seriousness and complexity combined, which makes it essential that you contact a solicitor with our sort of experience.
With cases that are complex or have the potential to be complex, you must take on lawyers who have a proven track record in similar cases.
Financial Matters
No matter what the type of case, we have a proven track record and only work with the best barristers. We regularly instruct counsel and Queen’s counsel at the leading Chambers in London and across the country. They know we insist on their best performance on every occasion and through our meticulous preparation we always ensure they have all the tools they need to present a case in Court.
Financial matters cover a wide variety of possible investigations. If your case is of a financial nature and if you want the best help to defend your reputation, phone us as early as possible to discuss your situation.
Types of Fraud
Fraud can be committed in a number of different ways, which include:
- Abuse of position
- False representation
- Prejudicing someone’s rights for personal gain
Fraud is any deception intended for personal gain or to cause a loss to another party and can include:
- Deception whereby someone knowingly makes false representation or they fail to disclose information
- They abuse a position.
Fraud is one of those areas that is relatively simple to state, certainly for an experienced fraud lawyer, but in large fraud investigations, the real hard work is in the facts.
Fraud Investigation
The main investigators and prosecutors of large and/or complex frauds include:
- The Serious Fraud Office
- Department of Business, Innovation and Skills
- City of London Police
- Financial Services Authority
- Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs
- The Home Office
- The Insolvency Service
- Metropolitan Police Service
- National Fraud Authority
- Office of Fair Trading
- Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office
- Serious Organised Crime Agency
- Department of Work and Pensions
We have dealt with very large and complex frauds that were prosecuted by others.
Benefit Fraud
Benefit fraud is investigated by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP), HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and/or local councils whenever there is suspicion that a benefit claim may be fraudulent. The two main types of benefit fraud are where:
- Someone in receipt of a benefit intentionally failed to report a change in their circumstances which they knew would affect their entitlement to benefits
- Someone knowingly provided information that was not true to obtain benefits
You may be visited by Financial Investigation Officers, or be invited to attend an interview under caution. In some cases, the benefit payments will cease while the investigation is conducted. You are entitled to take independent legal advice for the purpose of any interview under caution. Forgoing this right could have a significant impact on the outcome.
Benefit Fraud Investigation
It is unlikely that the investigating officers will tell an unrepresented suspect whether they have any real evidence before an interview gets underway. Some investigations may be based purely on anonymous and malicious reports. Others may be based on extensive surveillance, or it may be that the investigators have obtained evidence from a suspect’s employer, or bank.
Only a lawyer experienced in this field will be able to identify cases in which choosing whether or not to co-operate with an investigation will benefit the suspect.
If you are offered an alternative to being taken to court, we can advise you of the implications of accepting or refusing such a disposal. If you are taken to court, we can provide you with representation.
If benefits are stopped, reduced, and/or you are required to pay monies back, we will look to direct you to a Welfare Benefits Specialist to ensure that you take up your right to challenge such decisions, where appropriate.
Serious cases of benefit fraud can attract prison sentences and confiscation proceedings.
Carbon Credit Fraud
Dealing in carbon credits is an industry that came out of nothing. The problem with a new industry is that governments, investigators and prosecutors fail to understand the nature and structure of such a fast-moving industry. As a result, when looking into a possible carbon credit fraud, investigators can become involved in investigations that are capable of destroying legitimate businesses and creating havoc with personal lives when no criminal investigation ought to have been contemplated.
The fraudulent use of carbon credits so far included missing trader intra-community fraud and boiler room fraud. The prospects of fraud with carbon credits remains high due to a failure to have any central regulation in order to control false or bogus credits. The complexity of these cases means that if you are caught up in such an investigation you must consider taking specialist advice from an experienced fraud lawyer at the earliest opportunity.
This is also an area where, due to the amount of profit that can be made from a criminal enterprise, many people may find themselves caught up quite innocently in the investigation because offenders have invested in their business or property. If you are caught up in this way, you should take good legal advice from a fraud lawyer to ensure that you do not do anything that implicates you in criminal offending.
Complex Matters
Some cases are rightly termed ‘complex cases’ because there is no simple way of describing what it is that makes them more complicated than others. Cases become complex for many different reasons. The types of cases that turn complex are also very varied. What we are confident about is that we are well able to master and deal with these cases – whatever the complexity.
The key with a complex case is to be in control of it, to keep track of the complications and look to see how more complex it can be made.
We qualified first in Kent for the serious fraud panel run by the old Legal Services Commission in the days when only about 200 firms were permitted to deal with such cases throughout England and Wales.
We are known for our skill in putting together the correct teams of barristers, forensic accountants, investigators and expert witnesses.