The Solicitors Regulation Authority (“SRA”) confirmed in March that it will be writing to a “large number” of firms (400) asking to see evidence of compliance with the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 (“MLR 2017”). A failure to respond to the SRA request can have regulatory and criminal consequences. This action is taken under powers set out in the SRA […]

A United Kingdom tribunal has penalized a solicitor and firm financial crime compliance officer 45,000 pounds for failing to do even an internet search to check whether his clients were tied to powerful political officials, in the first disciplinary matter to involve infamous offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca – the entity at the heart of […]

Catch up on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing news, both in the UK and internationally, covering the period from February 2018 to June 2018. Within this period, the Fifth Money Laundering Directive has been published in the Official Journal of the EU, while in the UK, the SRA published its money laundering thematic review and […]

Child & Child set up secret company in British Virgin Islands and claimed Leyla and Arzu Aliyev had no political connections   A firm of London solicitors that set up an offshore company for the daughters of Azerbaijan’s president has been referred to a disciplinary tribunal after being accused of multiple failings. They include not […]

SRA v (1) David Clinch and (2) Robert Andrew Schofield Summary: Both Respondents acted in transactions which bore the ‘hallmarks of money laundering and/or fraudulent financial arrangements’ in breach of Principle 2 (to act with integrity) and Outcome 7.5 of the Solicitors Code of Conduct 2011. The Second Respondent accepted that neither Respondents had carried […]

This SRA report brings together and summarises information from other sources, which are referenced throughout the report, and can be used as a starting point when considering the risk of money laundering. Read more below: http://bit.ly/29xs http://bit.ly/29xsSOW