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27 October 2020 / Simon Farrell KC , Joe Edwards
Issue: 7908 / Categories: Features , Covid-19 , Commercial , Fraud
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When the tide goes out: Fraud & corporate wrongdoing in the wake of a predicted economic crisis

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Simon Farrell QC & Joe Edwards discuss fraud & corporate wrongdoing in the wake of a predicted economic crisis

In brief

  • Debt bubbles.
  • A wave of both civil and criminal litigation.
  • Statutory powers and cans of litigious worms.

As Warren Buffet once famously said ‘you only discover who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out’. This was a reference to those exposed in the face of an economic crash. The phrase has often also been used more precisely to refer to those caught out and brought to book either in the criminal and/or the civil courts after a severe economic downturn.

World debt levels have risen inexorably since the 2008 crisis and rose across all sectors by over $10trn in 2019 to $255trn. This was before the COVID crisis. Global debt now stands at 322% of global GDP and is $87trn higher than at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis. This debt rise has been fuelled by low interest

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Anthony Collins—20 promotions

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NEWS
The 25th Pro Bono Week begins today until 6 November, with events hosted by law firms, chambers, law schools and charities across the UK
Aggressive sales tactics can add up to fraudulent trading even without proof of a particular deception or financial loss
Judges risk weakening their own independence by staying silent over government reforms, a leading public lawyer argues
A discount on damages does not automatically mean an equivalent haircut for legal costs in military deafness claims
Police powers targeting concealed identities at protests come with procedural conditions that could determine whether prosecutions succeed
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