ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: John Kaye and Piers Desser, Carson Kaye
7.2 Recent Case Law and Latest Developments
Where assets are dissipated, claims may extend to substitutes or enrichment-based remedies, subject to factual tracing limits and competing third-party rights. 7. Enforcement Priorities and Case Law Developments 7.1 Enforcement Priorities Enforcement priorities in England and Wales focus on high-harm and high-complexity financial crime. Key areas include large-scale fraud, particularly investment fraud, authorised push payment fraud and crypto asset-related scams, international money laundering networks and sanctions evasion linked to geopolitical conflicts. There is also sustained emphasis on corporate crime, especially bribery, false accounting and failure of com - panies to prevent economic crime under regimes such as the Criminal Finances Act 2017. Authorities, including the SFO and the FCA, prioritise cases involving systemic misconduct, senior man - agement complicity and weak compliance cultures. Increasing use of data analytics and cross-border co- operation reflects a shift towards proactive detection and disruption rather than purely reactive prosecution. There is also growing focus on recovery of assets and victim restitution.
The Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which is reshaping corporate liability and compliance expec - tations. A key development is the new “failure to pre - vent fraud” offence, in force from September 2025, which significantly lowers the evidential burden on prosecutors by removing the need to prove senior management involvement and is expected to materi - ally increase corporate exposure to unlimited fines. Closely linked reforms to the identification doctrine also broaden the ability to attribute corporate criminal liability. There is also increasing policy focus on enhanced whistle-blower incentives, including proposals for US- style reward schemes in serious fraud cases, reflect - ing a shift towards intelligence-led enforcement. In parallel, sanctions enforcement and fraud prevention remain high priorities, with continued expansion of reporting obligations and cross-border co-operation. Recent case law and enforcement trends show a con - tinued reliance on Deferred Prosecution Agreements, which remain the principal mechanism for resolv - ing major corporate bribery and fraud cases. Courts have reinforced that co-operation, self-reporting, and remediation are central to approval and sentencing discounts, while also scrutinising compliance failures more strictly in sentencing and confiscation contexts. Institutionally, the SFO has signalled a more “fast and pragmatic” enforcement approach, including earlier charging decisions, greater case selection discipline and expanded use of coercive tools such as confisca - tion and corporate monitorships.
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