The Commercial Court has refused an application for the disclosure of communications between the claimant and members of its in-house legal department in Russia. The Court held that: legal advice privilege extends to communications with foreign lawyers; foreign lawyers do not have to be working in-house, provided they are acting in the capacity or function of a lawyer. It is the "function" of the relationship and not the "status" of the lawyer which is relevant in the case of

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published a report entitled Virtual Assets (VAs): Red Flag Indicators of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. The report is based on more than 100 case studies contributed by FATF global network members, together with information contained in certain FATF reports and publicly available information. The key indicators identified in the report include: Technological features that increase anonymity, such as the use of peer-to-peer exc

The High Court considered the potential application of the Quincecare duty to a payment service provider (PSP) taking instructions from a customer that was a company controlled by fraudsters. The Quincecare duty of care was established in Barclays Bank Plc v Quincecare [1992] 4 All ER 363. It is an implied negative duty imposed on a bank to its customer to refrain from executing an order/making payments if the bank has been put on inquiry that any instruction regarding paymen

Under a power of attorney (PoA), a lawyer was authorised to sell property belonging to a BVI registered company. That company had issued bearer shares that were held by a US lawyer on behalf of X. On the authority of a director of the company, the lawyer concluded a contract under the PoA for the sale of assets, but without informing X. The PoA had been issued by the director on the instructions of Y, a business associate of X, and the sale proceeds were used to pay off debts