Serious Fraud

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If you are concerned that you or your company may be facing allegations of fraud, financial crime or any similar criminal offence – such as money laundering or bribery and corruption – the specialist serious fraud defence lawyers at DPP Law can help you.

Any alleged “fraud offence”, once investigated and prosecuted, may result in severe penalties – including extensive prison time.

If you are a business owner or member of management who has been suspected of defrauding others through your professional activities, your organisation may face sanctions, and you may be required to suspend trading.

Your reputation will also face severe damage should the allegations in question come to light within the public sphere.

Whatever the nature of your case, you can contact our fraud solicitors for all of the representation and resources you’ll need to achieve the best possible outcome.

Our Expertise in Serious Fraud

DPP Law can look back over a lengthy and strong track record in advising and supporting clients throughout any serious fraud investigation – whether that investigation is led by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or any other party.

Our legal experts have enjoyed more than three decades of successful operation within the field of serious fraud defence.

Our clients may instruct us to aid them in the gathering of evidence to support their case, to accompany them to hearings and interviews with the authorities, to help them launch an appeal against hearing outcomes such as restraint orders – and to build the strongest possible defence.

We have handled numerous high-profile, complex and specialist fraud cases in the past, and our defence team is extensively qualified to tackle investigations and hearings related to the following offences and more:

Conspiracy to Defraud

Further to the above areas of expertise, the serious fraud solicitors at DPP Law are able to provide expert legal advice, support and representation to anyone accused of Conspiracy to Defraud – sometimes called “Conspiracy to Commit Fraud”.

The term “Conspiracy to Defraud” simply means that a person is suspected of being part of an agreement with other alleged perpetrators to commit fraud against a particular party or victim.

SFO investigations into cases of this kind are launched in order to collect and process evidence that will support a prosecution’s claims that:

The accused was involved in the alleged “conspiracy”
The accused was aware that they were planning to commit an offence
The accused acted/was acting with dishonesty in order to achieve the agreed-upon goals

We see allegations related to this particular offence fairly regularly. However, despite being relatively common, this offence is punishable by some of the most significant penalties, including unlimited fines and up to ten years in prison.

This is why it is vital that anyone facing charges of Conspiracy to Defraud should get in touch with our team of experts as soon as possible.

Serious Fraud Office Investigations

A serious fraud investigation will usually be led by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), and, depending on the severity and complexity of the alleged offences involved, can take anywhere from several weeks to a number of years.

The SFO must inform you if you or your company are to be investigated.

They may then apply for a warrant to undertake searches of relevant commercial or residential properties, request that certain information, records or evidence be sent to them and/or invite anyone suspected of involvement to be interviewed.

It may be that the evidence gathered by the SFO leads their investigators to believe that no fraudulent activity has been attempted or carried out. Alternatively, they may decide that they have sufficient proof to prosecute.

The specialists at DPP Law can be instructed to provide assistance, guidance and representation at any point in this process, from the moment an investigation is announced.

Members of our team can accompany you to any interview, help you to locate vital evidence to fight your case, represent you at a hearing or in a court of law and even appeal the outcome of a case if you have reason to believe that the findings were unfair.

Section 2 Interviews

If you receive a Section 2 Notice from the SFO, this means that you must, by law, comply with any request that they make of you.

This may include attending interviews with members of their investigatory team.

It is vital that you seek legal advice before you respond to any Section 2 correspondence, as a good solicitor will be able to check that the SFO is acting appropriately – and can accompany their clients to any hearing to provide them with valuable legal support.

Deferred Prosecution Agreements

One potential outcome of a fraud investigation is a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA). This is an arrangement between the prosecution and an organisation facing charges of fraud or similar offences.

Via a DPA, the organisation in question can agree to meet particular conditions in return for a suspension of action on the part of the prosecution for a set amount of time.

This agreement may allow time for the business in question to mitigate much of the damage that could be inflicted by a conviction, including harm to the organisation’s reputation.

If it applies to your case, DPP Law can help you to argue for a DPA to prevent sanctions and negative press for your company and help you to make reparations without the potentially major problems brought on by a conviction.

What Should I Do if I’m Accused of Serious Fraud?

If you or your business are facing allegations of serious fraud, you must get in touch with DPP Law at your earliest convenience.

Our serious fraud defence specialists will do everything in their power to help you fight your case and achieve the best possible outcome – whether that is by way of:

A successful appeal against a particular penalty
A Deferred Prosecution Agreement
The avoidance of a custodial sentence
The charges were dropped altogether as the result of a strong legal defence

Alongside this, our solicitors advise individuals on:

DPP Law is a legal 500 company and has been in operation for more than 30 years. If you are concerned that you or your company are likely to be the subject of an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, you should instruct us as a matter of urgency.

We have an Emergency Arrest Line, which remains live 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days a year.

Use this to call us any time of the day or night for swift legal assistance.

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