Corporate fraud refers to any illegal or dishonest activities conducted by businesses or their employees that seek to improve the economic position of the company or gain an unfair advantage. Alternatively, corporate fraud can also refer to cases in which an employee or other individual commits an illegal or dishonest act to the detriment of their employer or another business.

While the activities listed above serve as examples of the most common types of fraud, this is a complex area of the law and as such, it is important to seek legal support if you are accused of a financial crime. If you have been invited to attend an interview with the Serious Fraud Office, are subject to an Account Freezing Order, or have any other relationship to a criminal offence or investigation, contact the corporate fraud solicitors at JMW.

There are several types of financial crime that fall under the label of serious fraud. These include: 

• Embezzlement - when an individual misappropriates funds or assets entrusted to them for personal gain. In business, this can include employees creating fake invoices or forging checks to divert company funds into their own accounts.
• Insider Trading - using confidential information about a company's financial status or future plans to gain an unfair advantage in investment decisions.
• Financial Statement Fraud - a company deliberately manipulates financial statements to present a more favourable picture of its financial health. This can involve overstatement of revenues, understatement of expenses, or manipulation of balance sheet items in order to mislead investors or other stakeholders.
• Bribery - the act of offering or accepting something of value in exchange for inappropriately favourable treatment or influence. This includes kickbacks, which are a form of bribery where a portion of the money or goods involved in a transaction is returned to the payer as an incentive. 
• Asset Misappropriation - the theft or misuse of company assets, including inventory and equipment. 
• Tax Evasion - the deliberate underpayment or non-payment of taxes. Businesses may attempt this by providing false information, underreporting income, inflating deductions or through other means.
• Money Laundering - disguising the origins of illegally obtained funds by passing them through legitimate business transactions. Companies may be involved in this process knowingly or unknowingly.
• Price Fixing - competitors collude to set prices at an agreed-upon level, rather than allowing market forces to determine them. This includes bid rigging, in which companies collude to coordinate bids on contracts to ensure a particular party wins.

If you are placed under investigation for a fraud offence, there are a number of things that may happen. If your business is publicly listed, it may decide to announce that it is under investigation in the interests of keeping its stakeholders informed. Alternatively, the investigating authority may make this information public if it decided to make a public call for witnesses.

You may be asked to attend an interview under caution on a voluntary basis, or compelled to attend. In these cases, it is vital that you have expert representation from an experienced solicitor. Our fraud lawyers have represented clients in all types of fraud cases and can help to ensure that you answer questions in sufficient detail so as not to harm your defence.

Your accounts - whether personal or business - may be subject to an Account Freezing Order, which restricts assets to the funds they contain. If investigating authorities believe that the funds in your account are the proceeds of criminal activity, or may be used for a criminal purpose, they will often freeze access. This can make it difficult for your business to continue to trade, but with legal support, you may be able to vary or discharge an account freezing order and regain control of your funds.

The relevant authority may also apply for a production order, which allows them to obtain evidence from documents held by banks, business societies and others. They may do this without a suspect's knowledge, because they believe that alerting the suspect could jeopardise the investigation and prevent the funds from being successfully frozen, or because they do not think that the suspect will give up the information voluntarily.

These orders can be challenged, so it is vital to contact expert serious fraud solicitors as soon as you become involved in an investigation of this nature. They can also represent you in interviews and in court, if necessary, to ensure you can rely on the best possible defence.

The Serious Fraud Office, or SFO, is a non-ministerial government department that investigates the most complex cases of fraud, corruption, bribery and other financial crimes. They may be involved in or responsible for investigations and prosecutions relating to any of the types of fraud listed above. 

You may be contacted by the SFO if you are invited to attend an interview. In more serious cases, this may be an interview under caution, but you should always be accompanied by a solicitor during this process. Even if you are not involved in any criminal activity, there is the potential that you could inadvertently incriminate yourself without the support of expert serious fraud solicitors.

As such, you should contact a solicitor at your earliest opportunity. If you are under investigation, a team with experience in fraud defence work is vital - such investigations can last for a long time and come with heavy penalties if you are found guilty, but with the right support, you will have the best chance to defend yourself and avoid the most serious consequences.