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10 March 2017 / Professor Mark Button
Issue: 7737 / Categories: Features , Fraud , Procedure & practice
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Fraud & punishment

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Mark Button details research which will help to map & rank alternative justice systems for fraud

In recent years there have been a number of high profile cases of high status professionals sanctioned for serious fraud related behaviours by regulatory bodies, rather than the criminal justice system. For instance in 2012 the Daily Mirror (2012) ran a front page headline: “Call this justice? City banker steals £1.4m... no charge. Shop worker steals £10k... 9 months’ jail” after the then Financial Services Authority (FSA) published a regulatory decision regarding a senior executive in a private equity firm who had, in the words of the FSA (2012), “fraudulently obtained” just under £1.4m. His punishment from the FSA was a financial penalty just short of £3m and an order banning him from working in financial services. There was, however, no criminal prosecution. More recently another senior city worker, who had regularly failed to purchase a rail ticket, amounting to a £43,000 loss for the rail companies was dealt with by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Firm awards training contracts to paralegals through internal programme

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Private client disputes specialist joins commercial litigation team

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Cumbria firm appoints new head of residential property

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
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