Our London-based investigations team led by Dan Martin recently concluded a long-running private prosecution in a rare form of ‘out of court’ settlement in a criminal case. Our clients are high-net worth individuals who for many years trusted their personal affairs to be managed by their friend and accountant. The case started when our clients’ newly appointed business advisor discovered that their former accountant, who is in his mid-eighties, had been overstating our clients’ liability to HMRC and fraudulently retaining tens of thousands of pounds every year.

Following an investigation by our team, it was evidentially established that the value of the fraud was a minimum of £80,000 and possibly as high as £170,000 over the course of the last decade. We were able to obtain the defendant’s bank accounts, proving that the stolen funds had been used to clear the defendant’s overdraft and pay down credit card debts. The defendant refused to cooperate with the investigation initially and was therefore prosecuted for Fraud. Due to the high value of the fraud the case was sent to the Crown Court for trial. As the trial approached, negotiations with the defence led to the defendant admitting his conduct privately to our clients and providing an explanation in a face-to-face meeting without lawyers present. He also paid back a significant portion of the stolen funds and agreed to a payment plan for a further balance. Based on this private admission and the recovery of funds, our clients’ took the view that the prosecution was no longer in the public interest. They had particular regard to the defendant’s age, health and other mitigating circumstances. The charge was withdrawn and the Judge, having been made aware of the ongoing negotiations at an earlier stage in the case, approved and ordered our clients’ legal costs to be paid from central funds.