Category: Anti-Corruption

DOJ Launches New Incentive Program for Corporate Whistleblowers

The US Department of Justice has officially launched its whistleblower rewards pilot program, which offers financial incentives to individuals who report corporate misconduct to the DOJ and meet certain criteria. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri has made clear that the DOJ is attempting to break down barriers between whistleblowers […]

UK Government responds to International Development Committee’s Fourth Report 2016/2017

In October 2016, the International Development Committee put forward 13 recommendations for the improvement of the UK Government efforts to tackle overseas corruption. Last month the UK Government published its response. The Government agreed with seven recommendations: assess the extent of money laundered through the UK and continue to lobbying […]

Home Affairs Select Committee concludes UK needs to do more to address money laundering and corruption

The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee has published a report entitled ‘Proceeds of Crime’ in which it is highly critical of the efforts being made and systems in place in the UK to prevent money laundering and to recover the proceeds of crime. Chair to the Committee, Rt Hon […]

UK’s Serious Fraud Office secures second deferred prosecution agreement – this time with the UK Subsidiary of US Corporate

Lord Justice Leveson has approved the Serious Fraud Office’s (“SFO’s”) second application for a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”). The Agreement is with a company which cannot be named because of continuing related legal proceedings. The first DPA was with ICBC Standard Bank in December 2015. Further agreements under the DPA […]

CooleyAR’s summer holiday

The team will be taking August to recuperate after a furious few months blogging and will return in the Autumn. However, before we pack our bags it is worth reflecting on David Cameron’s recent speech in Singapore where he addressed the threat posed by corruption worldwide. We were particularly interested […]

A proposal to extend beneficial ownership rules to UK land-holding foreign companies

A report published today by Global Witness, alleging that an individual with ties to a former Kazakh public official owns large swathes of London, follows much recent interest in the issue of public officials owning property in the UK via secretive corporate structures that conceal their interest. Earlier this month, an Early […]

What states should know about unjust enrichment

We close out our series of tip-sheets on the causes of actions available to states who have been victims of bribery and corruption with a note on unjust enrichment. This is an interesting claim that sets the bar a little lower than some of the previous claims we have reviewed. […]

The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act

One of the last acts of parliament was to pass the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act (“the Act”), which received Royal Assent on 26 March 2015. Ostensibly, the primary purpose of this piece of legislation is to encourage entrepreneurship in the UK by helping small businesses to compete, grow […]

International enforcement of English asset recovery judgments: an overview

Civil proceedings brought by the state are one mechanism to recover the proceeds of crime, or to claim compensation for corrupt acts: as discussed in our previous post Recovering the proceeds of corruption: an overview. Typically, substantial corruption cases are international in scope and the proceeds of a corrupt transaction […]

Welcome to the Cooley blog on asset recovery

Welcome to our blog. Cooley has a proven team representing states  and companies seeking to trace, freeze and recover the proceeds of corruption or fraud, or obtain compensation for corrupt or fraudulent acts. We assist states to: Recover stolen public funds, bribes and compensation for corruption from dishonest public officials, their companies, trusts, […]