This Week in FCPA-Episode 58, the Declination Edition
Weekly Brief: Lawyers Advised To Accept New Reality
On 24 May 2024, the English High Court granted final injunctive relief to Barclays Bank Plc (Barclays), both in the form of an anti-suit injunction and an anti-enforcement injunction, arising out of a syndicated loan...more
In the much-anticipated decision of Philipp v Barclays Bank UK PLC [2023] UKSC 25 (the “Decision”), the UK Supreme Court (the “Court”) rejected the contention that Barclays Bank UK Plc (the “Bank”) owed a duty to its customer...more
On 12 July 2023, the UK Supreme Court delivered a landmark decision on the so-called “Quincecare duty” owed by banks to their customers. In a unanimous judgment in favour of Barclays Bank, the UK’s highest Court held that...more
In Philipp v Barclays Bank UK PLC, the UK Supreme Court has given unanimous judgment in favour of Barclays Bank, and provided clear guidance on the so-called ‘Quincecare duty’ owed by banks to their customers. White & Case...more
Who can be held responsible when a rogue actor directs payment from a company’s bank account? Unless discovered quickly, stolen funds are usually quickly spirited away from easy recovery. Victims of fraud therefore look for...more
On 25 November, the High Court of England and Wales ruled in a significant decision that suspected proceeds of crime linked to unnamed individuals must be transferred to the National Crime Agency (NCA). The funds were held by...more
What is the scope of banks’ duties to customers in executing their customers’ instructions? In particular, what are banks’ duties if the instruction is the instrument of fraud? Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal...more
“It has no soul to be damned and no body to be kicked”. How, then, can a company be held criminally liable? Various jurisdictions have grappled with this question and recent developments in the UK have increased the...more
Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group has reached a deal worth some $11.6 billion to buy the U.S. operations of BBVA, a Spanish lender. The mash-up, “one of the biggest banking deals since the 2008 financial crisis,”...more
UK regulators are probing ties between disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and Barclays CEO Jes Staley. The bank’s board is so far standing 100% with Staley, who has expressed “regret” over his relationship with Epstein....more
Hackers who targeted airport currency exchange mainstay Travelex in a ransomware attack on New Year’s Eve have alerted British media that they possess 5 GB of sensitive customer data from the company “since gaining access to...more
The SFO faced a challenging 2019, with some high-profile acquittals, dropped investigations and new cases which were widely perceived as relatively underwhelming. We look back at the last 12 months, and set out what might be...more
Bloomberg is reporting that Walgreens Boots is weighing a potential deal “to take the company private in what could become the largest leveraged buyout in history.” PE firms like KKR are apparently in the mix to assist in the...more
Just months after Whole Foods raised prices on certain items after an initial Amazon-pushed lowering, Bezos & Co. are planning cuts on “hundreds of items” as early as this week in an effort to “change the chain’s high-cost...more
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharm is prepping for a possible bankruptcy filing “as it seeks to contain liability from hundreds of lawsuits alleging it fueled the nation’s opioid epidemic.” Officially, the company went on the...more
Though expected after its earlier move to cut its revenue forecast, Apple’s official quarterly profits reporting yesterday still disappointed, as the company posted its “first holiday-quarter drop in both revenue and profit...more
As expected, Theresa May’s Brexit deal was roundly defeated in Parliament yesterday by an overwhelming 230-vote margin, the biggest House of Commons loss for a PM “in recent British history.” Following the vote, Labour Party...more
Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson announced on Monday that it will shift some of its motorcycle production overseas “to avoid retaliatory tariffs imposed by the European Union” in response to the White House’s trade moves....more
The High Court has a daunting lineup of decisions yet to issue this year, but it’s checking one off the list with yesterday’s 5-4 holding upholding the right of companies to use arbitration clauses in employment contracts “to...more
The chief executive officer of a major worldwide banking group agreed to pay the equivalent of US $870,000 as fines to two United Kingdom regulators, and had the equivalent of US $677,000 of prior pay clawed back by his...more
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office unveiled new charges against Barclays Bank yesterday over a $3 billion loan it made to Qatar in 2008 for the purpose of “allowing the firm to directly or indirectly acquire shares in Barclays...more
In a proceeding seeking an order for disclosure of documents from Barclays Bank, the English High Court of Justice considered the scope of the agency involved in a run-off agreement between a reinsurance broker and another...more
More trouble for the embattled British PM Theresa May. We learned yesterday that Britain’s second-largest construction firm—Carillion—was forced into liquidation after amassing a staggering $1.35 billion in debt. The downfall...more
The Senate Banking Committee has voted out of committee a bipartisan effort to ease Dodd-Frank regulations. The bill in question could “drastically cut” the number of banks subject to heightened Fed oversight and “would ease...more
The CEO of Barclays risks losing his 1.6 million-dollar bonus for launching his own personal investigation to identify the company whistleblower who wrote two anonymous letters about his colleague to the Barclays’s Board of...more