New Fraud Position in London Aimed to Help Fight Economic Crime and Foreign Corruption

December 9, 2016

Courtesy of Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Criminal Division

We are dealing with a new era of crime on a global scale.  During my first stint at the department, it was the exceptional case that involved international criminal groups or worldwide fraud schemes.  Today, transnational criminal enterprises and global corporate misconduct are the new normal.

To address crime on a global scale, we are forging deep coalitions with our international enforcement and regulatory counterparts, and our relationship with the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is vitally important in these efforts.

That is why today the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section posted a new attorney position dedicated to enhancing cooperation with the FCA and the SFO in London.

This new position builds on years of parallel investigations and significant cooperation involving sophisticated economic crime and foreign corruption.  The most prominent example of the Fraud Section’s work with the SFO and FCA has been the ongoing investigation into the manipulation of LIBOR, a key benchmark interest rate.  To date, the Fraud Section has resolved the investigation with six major financial institutions and imposed nearly $2 billion in criminal penalties.  The Fraud Section has also charged 13 individuals, and the SFO has charged 19 individuals and obtained European Arrest Warrants for another five individuals; four of the individuals were charged by both the SFO and the United States.  The FCA has brought eight cases against nine firms involved in LIBOR and prohibited seven individuals.

Our combined efforts prosecuting LIBOR manipulation have expanded into several other cross-border investigations, and we see this new attorney position as a natural outgrowth of what will continue to be a close relationship for years to come.

The Fraud Section attorney will be assigned to work for two years in London, the first year with the FCA and then with the SFO for the second.  Then, the Fraud Section attorney will return to Washington, D.C., for a third year to investigate and prosecute transnational economic crimes in the United States and to provide additional training to other Fraud Section prosecutors on the best practices and experiences learned at the FCA and the SFO.

The FCA and the SFO both support the creation of this new position, and both are highly interested in reciprocating and in sending an attorney from those agencies to the Fraud Section in Washington, D.C., to strengthen U.S.-U.K. working relationships.

The position is open to all experienced attorneys who meet the job requirements.  The job announcement has been posted publicly here and will remain open until Dec. 22, 2016.

Corruption, financial fraud and other white collar crimes have become truly international problems as our world shrinks.  We can only face today’s global challenges with increased cooperation and a better understanding of our respective legal systems.  This new posting represents one step toward achieving those goals.