Law360: A London court held on 15 July 2024 that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is not on the hook for the legal fees incurred by a former trader in biodiesel fuel after his trial, where he was acquitted of fraud charges, was delayed more than a year amid problems with disclosure.

Law360: The UK should pay whistleblowers for providing smoking gun evidence of wrongdoing from any corporate settlement they help bring about, to compensate them for the risk of coming forward, the director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) toldparliament on 14 May 2024.

Law360, London: Allegations by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) that an insurance broker failed to prevent bribery will tread new ground, a sign that the agency is willing to probe largely unanswered legal principles to test the extent of its powers, lawyers say.

Law360, London: The Court of Appeal on 2 September 2024 refused to allow the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to challenge findings that its former officials encouraged a former Dechert LLP partner to divulge confidential details about an internal investigation into a mining company.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala with fraudulent trading relating to aircraft parts supplier AOG Technics. The charges stem from alleged falsification of documentation for aircraft engine parts between 2019-2023, which led to aircraft groundings worldwide. The case involves a joint UK-Portuguese investigation, with Portuguese authorities conducting ten searches and making three arrests last week. Zamora Yrala will appear at Westminster magistrates' court on 2 June 2025. The investigation was completed in 19 months through international cooperation.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged Glencore Energy UK Ltd with seven counts of bribery in connection with its oil operations. Prior to the prosecution, the SFO opened Operation Azoth, into Glencore for corruption. The SFO, working with the US, Dutch and Swiss prosecutors, found profit-driven bribery and corruption in the company’s oil operations across five African countries. According to the SFO, Glencore's agents and employees paid bribes worth over $25m for preferential oil access, which was approved by the company. On 25 May 2022, at Westminster magistrates’ court, the company pleaded guilty to all charges and has agreed to pay over $1.1bn.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has reported that Reginald Larry-Cole and Scott Martin, former company directors, have been charged with fraud in relation to the nationwide car leasing scheme, Buy2Let Cars Ltd. The scheme attracted over £88m in investment and operated for nine years. Reginald Larry-Cole and Scott Martin will appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on 1 February 2024.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has brought charges against five individuals, including two solicitors, in connection with the collapse of law firm Axiom Ince and the alleged misappropriation of over £60m in client funds. The firm's CEO, co-director, and CFO face fraud charges, whilst all five defendants are accused of conspiracy to mislead the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) using false documents. Additional charges of conspiring to conceal or destroy documents relevant to an SRA investigation have been levied against four of the accused. The SFO's investigation, initiated 15 months ago, has progressed swiftly to criminal charges. The defendants are scheduled to appear before Westminster magistrates' court on 15 January to address the charges.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has reported that it has charged the former chief executive of Glencore's oil business and four other former employees with conspiring to make corrupt payments in order to benefit it's oil operations in West Africa. Alex Beard, Andrew Gibson, Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga and Martin Wakefield have been charged in connection with the awarding of a range of oil contracts spanning Cameroon, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast from 2007 to 2014. Gibson and Wakefield have also been charged in relation to the falsification of invoices to the company's London office marked as service fees to a Nigerian oil consultancy from 2007 to 2011. A hearing is scheduled for 10 September 2024 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged three former company directors, Stephen Greenaway, Paul Laver and Matthew Pickard, with fraud in relation to a collapsed forestry scheme in Costa Rica. Greenaway, Laver and Pickard were directors of Ethical Forestry Ltd, which operated tree plantations in Costa Rica for over eight years, and sold investments on their sites starting at £12,000. An investigation by the SFO was triggered when the company collapsed in 2015, where it was revealed that 3,500 UK investors had lost millions of pounds. All three directors of Ethical Forestry Ltd have been charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and one count of fraudulent trading. A hearing will take place at Westminster magistrates’ court on 28 June 2023, before the case is tried at Crown Court.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged six individuals following an investigation into alleged pension fraud involving £75m invested in storage units. Five defendants face conspiracy to defraud charges, while two face money laundering charges and two face Perjury Act offences. The case centres on alleged misrepresentations made between 2011 and 2014 in marketing storage unit investments to 1,900 UK pension holders through Store First. The defendants are scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 21 August 2025.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged six former Glencore employees with conspiring to make corrupt payments to benefit the company's oil operations in West Africa. Martin Wakefield, David Perez, Alex Beard, Andrew Gibson, Paul Hopkirk and Ramon Labiaga have been charged in connection with the awarding of oil contracts in Cameroon, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast between 2007 and 2014. Gibson, Wakefield and Perez also face charges relating to falsifying documents submitted for accounting purposes to Glencore's London office, where payments were recorded as service fees to a Nigerian oil consultancy. At an arraignment hearing on 10 November 2025 at Southwark Crown Court, four of the defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges. The trial is scheduled to begin on 4 October 2027.