1. Romanian Extradition success
   
   Mahwish Salah-ud-din represented a Romanian National (and a professional individual) who was arrested under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) and remanded in custody for months, pending extradition to Romania. It was alleged that our client had committed fraud which was absolutely refuted; it was in essence an ongoing civil dispute.
   
   The EAW hearing was adjourned pending a response from the Romanian Government; we were seeking assurances from the Romanian authorities concerning conditions in Romanian prisons, because our client was seriously ill. The requested assurances were not forthcoming and we applied to discharge the EAW proceedings successfully.
   
   This was a result of Mahwish's sheer determination to do the very best for her client, and the excellent advocacy skills of Martin Henley of Counsel (186 Great James St).
   
   
   
2. Driving Ban Success
   
   Martin Lewis of Counsel (Castle Chambers) was instructed by Jeffrey Lewis (and yes, they are related) to represent a Fine Art installer working for one of the leading London art galleries, who faced immediate disqualification from driving when charged with using a mobile phone when driving. He had 10 points on his licence already.
   
   The client and his employer (who was desperate to retain his employee, because of his exceptional abilities) were both convinced that the Court would order an immediate driving ban, which would have meant the immediate loss of the client's employment.
   
   However, as a result of Jeffrey Lewis' diligent and thorough preparation of the case, exceptional hardship was raised (based on the clients particular skills and the fact that he was supporting a disabled Father). The client’s employer gave evidence, and Martin Lewis successfully managed to persuade a very tough Magistrate not to disqualify our client but rather to impose low points and a fine, which meant that he was able to drive and keep his employment.
   
   
   
3. Exceptional Hardship success for professional driver
   
   Martin Lewis also represented a professional driver who had exceeded the speed limit by over 30%. He already had 12 points on his licence, as a result of 4 previous speeding offences and was facing an automatic driving ban.
   
   However thanks to Jeffrey Lewis' diligent case preparation and Martin Lewis' excellent powers of persuasion, the sentencing court was persuaded to accept an exceptional hardship submission (the client was his family’s sole breadwinner). A further 6 points was imposed, making a grand total of 18 points, but he was not disqualified and could continue to drive for a living. The Lewis Brothers are a formidable motoring offence defence team, with very high success levels.
   
   
   
4. Disclosure success in serious criminal allegation
   
   Adam Shaw, of our East London office, successfully represented an individual facing an allegation of robbery and false imprisonment (which he denied).
   
   Adam had thoroughly prepared our clients defence, paying particular attention to the issue of Evidential Disclosure, and analysis of the unused material. Adam's analysis concluded that there was a great deal of important material missing from the Unused Material, which would have supported his clients defence, outlined on his clients Defence Statement. It also supported successful legal challenges to the Prosecution case.
   
   The CPS then attempted to present further material purported to be admissible evidence on the day of trial (sadly, a regular occurrence), which was successfully legally challenged by Adam and the excellent defence barrister, Karina Arden of 9 Bedford Row.
   
   The case was stopped by the trial Judge, and the prosecution discontinued.
   
   
   
5. Other Serious Fraud allegation successes
   
   i. A Company Director faced a long term investigation concerning serious allegations of fraud and offences under the Companies Act 2006. As a result of Siobhain Egan's skillful handling of the various police interviews upon her clients behalf, and her tenacious approach to the management of the investigation, she was able to persuade the authorities to discontinue the investigation;
   

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   ii. A senior IT professional accused of forgery and dishonesty faced serious criminal proceedings until Siobhain was able to make successful representation regarding the merits of the prosecution and the fundamental issues concerning expert evidence;
   

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   iii. Siobhain represented an individual who faced trial concerning charges of fraud in a £multi million specialist fraud prosecution. The case took four years to come to court, and was especially complex for a number of reasons. Our client was defended by the superb Glenn Carrasco of Counsel, and was acquitted after a difficult 5 week trial.
   
   
   
6. More Serious Crime allegations successfully defended:
   
   i. Siobhain Egan represented an international businessman and company director, who was accused of being in possession of an offensive weapon, as he passed through security at Heathrow Airport. Quite obviously that is a very serious allegation per se, aggravated by the fact that the allegation occurred when at a major international airport.
   
   However, the client, a man of good character, had the most basic defence; he simply did not know that the item had been placed in his hand luggage. During his interview with police (and without legal representation), he repeated his defence in full. The police and CPS decided to charge him in any event.
   
   We applied to the Magistrates court for an adjournment of the first hearing, and wrote to the CPS asking that they properly review the decision to prosecute, however, it seemed that the case had not been allocated a reviewing lawyer and the police, CPS and the Court had assumed that our client would enter an early guilty plea (completely overlooking the defence which he raised). As a result the Magistrates Court simply refused to adjourn the matter, and we had no choice other than to advise our client to elect Crown Court trial (at additional expense). We did this because we knew that it was the only way to bring our representations about our clients case to the attention of a fully qualified CPS lawyer.
   
   A long detailed letter of representations was drafted, unusually including defence witness statements (supporting our clients assertions) and character references, which were sent to the CPS for review. Thankfully somebody at the CPS saw the strength of our submissions and the case was discontinued, shortly before our clients first appearance in the Crown Court. Had the prosecution continued his livelihood would have been in immediate jeopardy.
   
   Why did the police and the CPS not understand the defence which our client had clearly raised at the very earliest opportunity?
   
   Why did it take a decision to elect trial to the higher court, before somebody at the CPS had the opportunity to read our submissions and finally take the decision to discontinue the case?
   
   The Criminal justice system is in such an appalling state, because it has suffered years of fundamental cutbacks, redundancies and an inability to attract the requisite Calibre of lawyers and staff, that innocent individuals find themselves dragged into a Kafkaesque nightmare.
   

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   ii. Siobhain was instructed by a professional man, who faced allegations of coercion and control, false imprisonment and latterly three allegations of rape.
   
   He had previously instructed a well known firm of lawyers who had advised him to plead guilty, which he refused to do. He then instructed Siobhain to defend him. She in turn instructed the excellent team of specialist defence barristers - Ms Dee Connolly leading Ms Nicola Cafferkey of 33 Bedford Row Chambers.
   
   The evidence in the case was enormous; hundreds of hours of smart phone films and over 50,000 messages/emails, etc. We had a team of four lawyers analysing this material daily.
   
   We instructed one of the foremost teams forensic experts in the Country, who downloaded evidence from smartphones (including one, which the Metropolitan Police had declared defunct) and retrieved over 50,000 examples of communication.
   
   However, enormous problems began to arise with the CPS and disclosure.. at one stage we were definitively told in written correspondence by the CPS, that there was nothing further to disclose. However, the team of Connolly, Cafferkey and Egan were not to be thwarted and would not accept this to be an accurate assessment.
   
   10 hearings later and after robust submissions in correspondence, a detailed s8 (application for further disclosure) and after a great deal of consistent pressure had been placed upon them together with many reviews by a host of senior CPS lawyers, the prosecution case against our client was eventually discontinued, shortly before trial. The moral of the story: Never give up!
   
   

1. i) Jeffrey Lewis advises an individual following allegations of involvement in multi-million pound pension fraud: he will be assisted by Siobhain Egan;
   
   ii) Jeffrey also advises a substantial buy to let landlord who has found that over 20 of his properties have been ‘colonised' by individuals running cannabis ‘farms'. The Police force to whom this issue has been reported has not reacted at all to this complaint, and it is now left to the landlord to pursue civil proceedings against these ‘sub-tenants' and his managing agents.
   
   
2. i) Keith Wood defends an individual facing complex confiscation proceedings following a conviction for conspiring to defraud HMRC of £10million (the client was represented by another firm at trial). Keith is one of the top confiscation defence experts in the Country, he works with leading forensic accountants and barristers and achieves great success with these type of cases;
   
   ii) Keith is also defending another client facing extradition proceedings brought by the Spanish Government following allegations of involvement in a large scale 'time share' fraud which has attracted National publicity both here and in Spain.
   
   
3. i) Sean Reilly advises a businessman whose assets have been frozen by a Civil Recovery Order brought as a result of a joint investigation by HMRC and the NCA. It is even more likely now, with the budgetary constraints and financial cuts that all investigative agencies are currently facing, that instead of instituting lengthy expensive criminal proceedings (for tax evasion and money laundering as in this case), the authorities will now directly target assets that they suspect are the Proceeds of Crime. The burden of proof will be upon the defendant to show that these assets are bona fide, have been lawfully acquired and that tax has been paid upon the income used to purchase those assets;
   
   ii) Sean is also representing a client facing extradition proceedings brought by the US Government, concerning allegations of serious fraud.
   
   
4. Richard Demczak of our Oxford Office has received the following recent instructions:
   
   i) An undergraduate student at Oxford University facing three allegations of rape;
   ii) A young man with severe learning difficulties facing an allegation of rape;
   iii) A professional man defending a charge of perverting the course of justice;
   iv) Two young men accused of cultivating cannabis, they will raise the statutory defence (s45 Modern Slavery Act 2015) of victims of modern slavery and people trafficking.
   
   
5. i) Siobhain Egan advises an academic investigated by Police, following a historic allegation of rape, which allegedly occurred some 56 years ago;
   
   ii) She also represents a Company Director facing an allegation of dishonesty and fraud.

Siobhain Egan successfully represented:

1. A property lawyer investigated following an allegation of dishonesty and fraud, after Siobhain submitted robust submissions; and
   
   
2. A professional individual arrested some years ago following a SFO investigation into a multi-million (in excess of £50 million) property pension SIPP fraud. Finally, the SFO formally closed the investigation this week. 
   
   Siobhain had made strong representations about the investment during interviews and the management of her clients case throughout this lengthy process. She has been successfully advising individuals facing SFO investigations (such as Company Directors, Senior Company Management, solicitors and accountants) since 1992. She is well known for taking a firm, robust stance with the SFO, particularly in the face of an increasingly and unnecessary aggressive approach by the agency. The SFO is primarily a criminal investigation and prosecution authority, and this is why our specialist Serious Fraud lawyers excel when dealing with the SFO, because they have decades of the necessary and successful experience.
   
   The recent legal issues concerning privilege and the management of both internal and SFO investigations in the press, underline the need to instruct criminal defence lawyers who know how to deal with:
   
   Interviews under caution and s2;
   Disclosure; and
   Legal professional privilege, - and who can keep the pressure on this organisation, its lawyers and its financial investigators, throughout the very lengthy investigative process.
   
   This is an agency which opens many more investigations than it prosecutes.

If you are facing an allegation of serious fraud, or if you suspect that your company needs to self report to the SFO, then contact Lewis Nedas law using our enquiry form at www.lewisnedas.co.uk or call us on 02073872032

1. Paul Mason, Consultant Solicitor, represented an individual accused of racial harassment: The client faced trial on indictment and the alleged victim was a City solicitor whom Paul's client had instructed in litigation worth millions of pounds. That litigation went disastrously wrong for the client, and relations with the City firm of lawyers deteriorated to such an extent that a criminal complaint of racial harassment was brought against him. However, the client was acquitted unanimously by the jury, largely as a result of Paul's painstaking approach to disclosure of documents, which revealed a few glaring and fundamental anomalies in the Crowns case. The case attracted Nationwide publicity. 
   
   
2. The excellent Richard Demczak, of our Oxford Office, continues with his incredible run of acquittals:
   
   a) Richard successfully represented an individual who faced trial at Oxford Crown Court following charges of administering a poison/noxious substance to Police; a successful legal argument resulted in a decision by the CPS to withdraw the proceedings at Court. The case attracted National publicity.
   
   b) The same client also faced a supplemental charge of witness intimidation, which the client denied. Richard instructed a specialist computer expert to analyse the large amount of computer evidence. Richard then served that report upon the CPS (which supported our clients defence completely), together with the Defence Statement. Upon receipt of both documents the CPS discontinued the case. This is yet another example of the successful pro-active defence work at which this firm excels.
   
   c) Richard also successfully defended a man with severe learning difficulties who faced 15 allegations of historic sexual abuse at the Crown Court, many of these charges were over 14 years old. The case involved the use of an intermediary and a psychiatrist because of our clients learning difficulties. The client was adamant that he was entirely innocent of these charges, which included multiple counts of rape, six counts of sexual activity with a child, assault by penetration and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. Both Richard and Counsel  were instructed and visited the multiple sites at which it was alleged that the criminal activity occurred, and it quickly appeared that there were fundamental flaws in the Prosecution case. The jury quickly returned a unanimous verdict of Not Guilty on all counts.
   
   
3. Sean and James Reilly continue their winning streak:
   
   a) They successfully defended an individual who facing trial, who raised the absolute defence of self defence to a very serious allegation of wounding with intent (Section 18). The client was quickly and unanimously acquitted by the jury.
   
   b) The Reilly brothers also secured the acquittal of an individual who faced an allegation of possession of a a large amount of class A drugs with intent to supply (the drugs were found in the back of the van in which our client was driving). The Crown's case was heavily reliant upon telephone evidence, which had been served upon us at a very late stage. James Reilly (solicitor advocate) successfully argued before the trial Judge that the evidence was more prejudicial than probative and that essentially the defence were ambushed by the late service of this material (which had been sought several times by us from the CPS). The Judge agreed with the legal submission and he ruled that the telephone evidence was inadmissible, this resulted in the CPS then offering 'no evidence' and the client was immediately discharged.
   
   
4. Siobhain Egan successfully defended:
   
   a) a City solicitor working for a magic circle firm accused of dishonesty and fraudulent behaviour. 
   
   b) An accountant working within the charitable sector facing allegations of systematic fraud.
   
   Siobhain has a particularly successful niche practice defending professionals (medical, legal, accountancy, City financial and FCA regulated individuals) facing regulatory, professional disciplinary, fraud, money laundering, tax and criminal investigations (including sexual allegations) and prosecutions.
   
   
5. Siobhain also deals with Cybercrime fraud recovery: She works with a firm of leading computer forensic specialists who deal with cyber crime, cyber fraud and ransomware. They advise companies and individuals who have been defrauded of large sums of money. Together they represented and advised a businessman who had been defrauded of £250,000. Working closely with the client and the authorities in both the UK and South East Asia, the alleged fraudsters were arrested in both countries. A very large sum of money was frozen by the South East Asian authorities, Siobhain will work with those authorities and corresponding lawyers in that Country in order to recover our clients stolen monies.

1. a) Jeffrey Lewis is advising a Care Home Company facing criminal proceedings regarding neglect of patients;
   
   b) Jeffrey is also advising and representing an established businessman facing money laundering criminal proceedings; Keith Wood will assist him on this case.
   
   
2. Sean and James Reilly represent an individual who is possibly the last remaining defendant to face allegations of involvement in the Hatton Garden heist. These proceedings have attracted Nationwide Publicity and will be robustly defended.
   
   
3. Keith Wood has been instructed in three separate money laundering (criminal proceedings), a substantial fraud matter and defends High Court Contempt (criminal proceedings) in relation to a website.
   
   
4. Siobhain Egan has been instructed to defend in an international art fraud investigation.