Russian oligarch’s libel lawsuit against Bellingcat founder thrown out of court May 19, 2022 A libel lawsuit brought forward by a sanctioned Russian oligarch against the founder of investigative news site Bellingcat has been thrown out of court. A High Court judge dismissed Yevgeniy Prigozhin’s lawsuit against Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins, due to the oligarch’s “repeated failure to comply with simple court orders,” following his lawyers exit from the [...]
Laurence Fox fails to get libel trial heard by a jury May 19, 2022 Laurence Fox has failed in his bid to get his libel trial heard by a jury, in what would have been the first libel case heard jury in a decade. A judge rejected the actor and right-wing political activist’s argument that Fox would not get a fair hearing as judges hearing the case may suffer [...]
High Court rejects Greek bank’s claim against Lloyds insurer over ship detained in Venezuela May 18, 2022 A UK High Court has rejected a Greek bank’s $71m claim against Lloyd’s insurer Antares seeking a multi-million-dollar payout over a ship detained by Venezuelan authorities. The ruling is set to come as a relief to insurers in setting out that such situations are not covered by war risk policies. The case comes after Venezuelan [...]
Fund manager faces 40 years in prison after using Allianz’ good name to defraud investors May 18, 2022 The star portfolio manager behind Allianz’ Structured Alpha funds faces decades in prison after he traded off Allianz’ good reputation to defraud investors of billions, US prosecutors have said. French-American citizen Gregoire Tournant earned $60m from his role as Chief Investment Officer at Allianz, as he lied to investors and misled them as to the [...]
KPMG drops embattled property firm Adler as client following allegations of wrongdoing May 18, 2022 KPMG has dropped German property firm Adler as an audit client after refusing to sign off on its accounts last month. In a letter to investors, Adler chairman Stefan Kirsten said KPMG’s decision had come as a “great surprise” to the firm, as he said the firm is now searching for a new auditor. Kirsten [...]
Aviva on track to meet financial targets after sales jump five per cent May 18, 2022 British insurance giant Aviva today said it is on track to meet its financial targets after its sales increased by 5 per cent to £2bn, on the back of strong trading in the UK and Canada. The London insurer said it had brought in an extra 100,000 UK customers over the previous year brining its [...]
Coalition of football clubs file lawsuit against insurers in wake of landmark Axa ruling May 17, 2022 A coalition of football clubs have filed a multi-party lawsuit against six major insurers seeking a larger payout for money lost during Covid-19, after the UK’s Supreme Court said businesses are allowed to reclaim losses suffered due to the impacts of the pandemic. A consortium of 20 separate claimants – including Arsenal, Liverpool, and Aston [...]
Google and DeepMind face class action lawsuit over patient data deal with London hospital May 16, 2022 London law firm Mishcon de Reya is bringing forward a major class action lawsuit against artificial intelligence (AI) firm DeepMind and its sister company Google over claims the two firms misused UK patients’ medical records while working with the Royal Free Hospital. The lawsuit, filed to the High Court on behalf of 1.6m individuals, comes [...]
Ex-Dechert solicitor leaked ENRC’s confidential documents to media, London judge rules May 16, 2022 A London judge has said a senior partner at corporate law firm Dechert LLP breached his duties to Kazakhstani mining conglomerate ENRC by leaking information about the company to three British newspapers and the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO). High Court judge Mr Justice Waksman said Neil Gerrard, the former head of white-collar crime at [...]
KPMG faces record £14.4m fine after auditors misled watchdog during Carillion inspection May 12, 2022 KPMG is set to be hit with a record £14.4m fine after a tribunal found five of its former staff deliberately misled the UK’s audit watchdog by forging documents during routine inspections of their work. The tribunal heard the UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) had agreed to reduce KPMG’s fine from a sum of £20m, [...]