Criminal Defence
FORENSIC ACCOUNTANT SERVICES FOR CRIMINAL DEFENCE SOLICITORS
How Mark Jenner & Co Can Help?
WE WILL REVIEW YOUR CASE PAPERS ON A NO OBLIGATION BASIS
FAST TURN ROUND OF QUOTATIONS FOR LEGAL SERVICES COMMISSION
EXPERT DRIVEN SERVICE – WE ARE A VALUABLE PART OF THE DEFENCE TEAM
Fraud and white collar business crime is a serious threat to any organisation and a whole range of regulatory bodies are ready to detect and prosecute financial irregularities including police fraud squads, the Serious Fraud Office, the Insolvency Service, Serious and Organised Crime Agency, Financial Services Authority, Trading Standards, Office of Fair Trading, Association of British Insurers, HMRC and many more. Anybody finding themselves on the receiving end of an investigation by one of these may well need to defend allegations of business crime based on complex financial transactions – often not fully understood by the regulatory investigators themselves!
Mark Jenner & Co recognises that highly specialised help is needed in these cases, often termed white collar crime or business crime. Very often prosecution indictments are based on a loose interpretation of the facts, sometimes ignoring relevant or mitigating evidence altogether. These need to be considered in a measured criminal defence and presented as a clear and impartial view in order to assist your case.
The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ensures criminal asset confiscation is the usual route pursued by the regulators as they focus on recovering proceeds of crime. They see it as a self funded exercise and so are more willing to “have a go” it seems. You need the Crown’s case to be reviewed and any weaknesses reported so that the amounts sought can be reduced and often it is possible to demonstrate that all wealth has been obtained from legitimate sources.
OUR APPROACH TO WHITE COLLAR CRIME AND FRAUD DEFENCE WORK
The approach taken when providing assistance to the criminal defence team in all areas of white collar crime is to quickly identify both strengths and weaknesses within the prosecution case. Very often this can lead to an early retraction or amendment by the prosecution of some or all of their demands. We present the issues to the criminal defence team as early on in the proceedings as possible to allow for strategy development by counsel. Where evidence is being produced by the prosecution at late stages, sometimes during a trial, we are ready to interact with the defence team throughout the process in order that all issues receive proper attention.
At the outset we provide a substantial initial review of the case in order that the issues and level of work required are understood. There is no charge for this review and no obligation attached to it – we recognise that quoting for publicly funded work is a competitive process but take the view that an honest and accurate estimate of the case is needed before any work can commence. We are used to making detailed submissions to the Legal Services Commission and to other bodies to obtain funding.
FRAUD AND CRIME SPECIALIST
All cases have the substantial involvement of the lead criminal defence expert accountant and fraud investigator, Mark Jenner, who is then able to fully assist during case conferences or with the provision of oral evidence as necessary. His experience includes diverse cases involving areas such as Mortgage Fraud, Fraudulent Trading, Employee Theft, Pyramid Selling, Asset Confiscation, Money Laundering, Director Defalcation, Investment Fraud, Advance Fee Fraud, Carousel Fraud (MTIC Fraud), Financial Statement Fraud, Long Firm Fraud, Insolvency Fraud and Tax evasion.
Forensic accountants are commonly employed by both the defence and the prosecuting authorities in white collar crime and fraud cases. This is particularly so in a complex fraud when the financial and business issues need to be unpicked and explained succinctly to the court.
PROCEEDS OF CRIME ACT 2002, MONEY LAUNDERING INDICTMENTS & CONFISCATION DEFENCE WORK
Sometimes a forensic accountant will be asked by the defence to inspect a Prosecutor’s Section 16 Statement prepared under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 for confiscation proceedings. In this case it is up to the defendant to disprove many of the Crown’s often sweeping assumptions. This can involve the valuation of a business, demonstrating legitimate income or disproving allegations of “hidden assets” by the financial expert. In all cases a written report will be prepared by the forensic accountant who may also be called upon to provide oral evidence in court if appropriate. Therefore, the criminal or fraud expert must not only be a competent accountant and business adviser and be able to inform the court with a well written, clear and concise report, but also be able to withstand often robust and intimidating cross examination by prosecution counsel if needed.
As independent forensic accountants, Mark Jenner & Co are also happy to assist the Regulatory Authorities in Prosecution cases where the need for non partisan expert accounting input has been recognised.
