July 3, 2026
Katie Bacon has co-edited the June edition of the Fraud Newsletter, which explores the latest developments in fraud, financial crime and regulatory law. She writes:
This month’s edition contains a bumper crop of news, with plenty to get your teeth into, including wholesale changes to the confiscation regime, corporate criminal liability and developments in the use of AI.
Two new cases are of particular interest:
-Mr Justice Hilliard’s judgment on anonymity in DPA proceedings in SFO v Ultra Electronics (in which Faras Baloch and Trevor Archer acted for the SFO) is a significant decision on the application of the open justice principle in DPA proceedings.
-Wilden v Person Unknown & Anor concerns a WFO against an unknown person who stole Bitcoin worth millions of euros, as well as disclosure and costs orders against an uncooperative company. The case is the latest in a number of recent decisions involving freezing orders and cryptocurrency, a trend likely to continue given the latest government and CPS strategies published. It also serves as a useful reminder of the ‘name and shame’ power of judgments to highlight poor conduct by companies.
The newsletter also considers developments in the continuing debate around government reform to jury trials, with news that the Crown Court backlog is falling, albeit marginally, alongside a highly critical report from the Justice Select Committee. Readers can also revisit HH Geoffrey Rivlin KC’s analysis from the December edition of Focus as the discussion continues under the new Government.
The big legislative change is the expansion of corporate criminal liability in the Crime and Policing Act, with further analysis to follow in July’s edition of Focus.
Read the June edition of the Fraud Newsletter here
Co-editor Katie Bacon is building a practice in business crime and fraud and welcomes instructions to prosecute and defend in this area. She has experience as disclosure counsel for the prosecution and has also prosecuted on behalf of the Insolvency Service.