The end of the opacity excuse? What Operation Blooming Onion means for modern slavery compliance
For years, companies have been able to say that supply chains are too complex to fully trace. Products may pass through multiple farms, processors, labour providers, contractors, subcontractors, distributors and retailers before reaching the shelf. Records may be incomplete, fragmented or held by different organisations across different jurisdictions. By the time a product reaches the […]
DOJ moves to seize Beverly Hills mansion allegedly bought with proceeds from defence contractor bribery scheme
The US Department of Justice has filed a civil forfeiture complaint seeking to seize a Beverly Hills mansion allegedly purchased and renovated with around $30 million in proceeds from a scheme involving defence contracting, bribery, fraud and money laundering. According to the DOJ, the mansion was allegedly bought and improved using proceeds from a scheme […]
EUDR update: the Commission holds the line, but scope changes are coming
The EU Deforestation Regulation has entered another confusing stage. The much-anticipated simplification review was expected by the end of April 2026, and a new FAQ document briefly appeared online with important clarifications on downstream operators, re-imports, exports and the relationship between EUDR, CSDDD and the Forced Labour Regulation. But the full package, including the review […]
UK introduces new sanctions end use control to target diversion risk
The UK has introduced a new sanctions end use control, giving the government a new way to intervene where goods or related technology exported from the UK may be diverted to a sanctioned end user, intermediary or jurisdiction. The guidance was published by the Department for Business and Trade and the Office of Trade Sanctions […]
When compliance failures become criminal: What the Lafarge judgment means for business
A French court has found the cement group Lafarge guilty of financing terrorism and breaching sanctions after the company paid armed groups, including ISIS and the Nusra Front, to keep its cement plant in northern Syria operating during the civil war. The Paris court ruled that Lafarge paid a total of €5.59 million between 2013 […]
India’s DPDP Act is a UK compliance issue
India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, notified in November 2025, has moved into implementation, with different parts of the rules coming into force on different dates. For organisations with operations, suppliers, teams or customers connected to India, this has become a practical compliance issue. For UK organisations, this is not simply a question of what […]
ScoMo’s failed appeal against the SRA’s £68k AML fine highlights the cost of weak compliance
A recent decision in the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has upheld a £68,000 penalty for a law firm’s anti‑money laundering failures, rejecting the firm’s appeal against the fine imposed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Scott‑Moncrieff & Associates (ScoMo), a fee‑share law firm, argued that the penalty was excessive, but the Tribunal found that the regulator’s […]
Apple sanctions penalty shows how UK exposure can arise where firms least expect it
On 19 March 2026, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, or OFSI, imposed a monetary penalty of £390,000 on Apple Distribution International Limited, an Irish subsidiary of Apple. The penalty related to two payments in 2022, worth £635,618.75 in total, made to Okko LLC, a Russian streaming service that at the time was wholly owned […]
Transparency in the British Overseas Territories: eight years on, where are the public registers?
Nearly eight years after the UK’s offshore financial centres committed to greater beneficial ownership transparency, the picture is still deeply uneven. The UK continues to say it expects all Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to move to public registers of beneficial ownership, yet in practice many jurisdictions are still relying on narrower “legitimate interest” access […]