White-Collar Crime Barristers

White-collar cases are defined less by a single offence than by who investigates and how. The Serious Fraud Office handles the most serious or complex fraud, bribery and corruption. The Financial Conduct Authority prosecutes insider dealing under Part V of the Criminal Justice Act 1993 and misleading statements under the Financial Services Act 2012. HMRC investigates tax evasion, including cheating the public revenue and fraudulent evasion of VAT. The CPS, often through specialist economic crime units, prosecutes cases investigated by the police and the National Crime Agency. Each has its own powers, culture and approach to cooperation, and the right strategy depends heavily on which one you are dealing with.

The offences themselves are wide. The Bribery Act 2010 criminalises offering or receiving bribes, bribing a foreign public official, and, under section 7, a commercial organisation's failure to prevent bribery by those associated with it, subject to a defence of adequate procedures. Money laundering under sections 327 to 329 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 can catch professionals who handle funds they suspect are criminal property, and regulated firms face separate disclosure obligations. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 widened corporate liability for economic crimes committed by senior managers and created a failure to prevent fraud offence for large organisations, which came into effect on 1 September 2025.

Investigations can run for years before any charge, and the early stages are where the most damage is done or avoided. The SFO can compel a person to attend an interview and answer questions or produce documents under section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987, with criminal penalties for non-compliance, although answers given are generally restricted in how they can be used against the person who gave them. A voluntary interview under caution is different, and silence there can lead to adverse inferences later. Search warrants, production orders, account freezing orders and restraint orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act may arrive without warning. For companies, a deferred prosecution agreement under Schedule 17 to the Crime and Courts Act 2013 may be available, but it is not available to individuals.

We will be candid about Direct Access here. A full white-collar defence involves vast disclosure, forensic accountants and sustained correspondence with the investigator, which is the work of a Solicitor, and most serious cases at trial are best run with a Solicitor and Barrister together. Legal aid can be available to individuals through Solicitors, subject to means, and a Direct Access Barrister cannot act under legal aid. Where Direct Access does fit is specific, focused work: advice when you first learn of an investigation, preparation for a compelled or voluntary interview, a second opinion on strategy, advice to a company on its exposure or its procedures, or a discrete hearing such as a restraint variation. Your Barrister will say plainly when a Solicitor needs to be brought in.

1. 1

   First Contact

   The investigation becomes known through a letter, a notice, a raid or a frozen account. Get advice immediately, before speaking to the investigator, colleagues or anyone else involved about the facts.

2. 2

   Status and Strategy

   Your Barrister establishes whether you are treated as a witness, a suspect or a company representative, which agency is leading, and what powers it is using, then advises on an overall strategy, including whether a Solicitor is needed.

3. 3

   Interview Preparation

   For a compelled interview or an interview under caution, your Barrister prepares you on the documents likely to be put to you and on privilege, and where possible attends or advises on whether to give a prepared statement.

4. 4

   Protecting Assets

   If a restraint or account freezing order is made, your Barrister advises on its terms and can apply to vary it so you can meet reasonable living expenses or business needs, which you support with financial evidence.

5. 5

   Charging Decision

   Before a charging decision, your Barrister may make written representations to the prosecutor on the evidence and the public interest. For a company, the discussion may turn to a deferred prosecution agreement.

6. 6

   Proceedings and Sentence

   If charges follow, your Barrister advises on plea and defence and, for complex cases, how a Solicitor and Barrister team should run it. Sentencing follows the Sentencing Council's fraud, bribery and money laundering guidelines, often followed by confiscation.