The investigation is complete and the report has been published here.
The investigation is being carried out by the highly experienced lawyer and former Court of Appeal judge, Dame Elizabeth Gloster, who is independent of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Dame Elizabeth was appointed as the investigator on 10 July 2019 and is supported by an independent team.
The Rt. Hon. Dame Elizabeth Gloster DBE, PC
Dame Elizabeth has had a distinguished career as a barrister and as a judge on the High Court and the Court of Appeal. As well as her current work as an international arbitrator, she has deep experience in commercial law, with expertise in financial services, insolvencies and regulation.
Dame Elizabeth practised as a commercial and Chancery QC at One Essex Court from 1991 until 2004, before accepting an appointment as a High Court judge, becoming the first woman to be appointed a judge of the Commercial Court and as Judge in Charge of that Court from 2010-2012. She was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2013 and became Vice-President of the Civil Division of that Court in 2016.
Since retiring from the Court of Appeal in 2018, Dame Elizabeth has returned to One Essex Court to practise as an international commercial arbitrator. She has been appointed both as chair and co-arbitrator in a wide range of international arbitrations including banking, insurance/reinsurance, energy, telecoms, construction, joint venture and State investment disputes.
As a QC, she had a high-profile City practice specialising in corporate, banking, financial regulation, insolvency, insurance and reinsurance and energy cases. For example, she acted for creditors, investors and/or office holders in cases arising out of major international insolvencies such as: Barlow Clowes, Maxwell, Canary Wharf (Olympia & York), Heron, Garuda Airways, Enron, Telewest, Parmalat, Marconi, TXU, Barings etc. and for the Secretary of State in the disqualifications of the Barings directors and the Blue Arrow directors.
As a High Court Judge, Dame Elizabeth presided over numerous important commercial and financial markets cases, including JP Morgan Chase Bank v Springwell Navigation Corporation, Masri v Consolidated Contractors International and the notable Berezovsky v Abramovich trial.
As a Lady Justice, she sat on numerous important commercial and financial cases, ranging from capital markets, arbitration, shipping, gas and oil, insurance, tax, and insolvency to criminal LIBOR fixing. These included LBG Capital No. 1 Plc v BNY Mellon Corporate Services Limited, Burlington Loan Management Ltd & Ors v Lomas & Ors (a Lehman case), R v Hayes and Ukraine v The Law Debenture Trust Corporation Plc.
Dame Elizabeth was Treasurer of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple for 2018 and is an Honorary Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge and Harris Manchester, Oxford. She is Patron of the London Branch of the CIArb and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators.
James Petkovic (Junior Counsel, One Essex Court)
James Petkovic was called to the Bar in 2009.
He has a depth of experience in financial regulatory law, having been seconded to the FSA (a previous regulator to the FCA) in September 2011-February 2012 and with the FCA part-time in March 2017-June 2017 as well as assisting the FSA on its work in preparing the Handbook for the transition of functions from the FSA to the FCA. Work has included assisting on drafting rules pertaining to tax-transparent funds, master-feeder structures and also assisting on issues concerning Brexit and the CSDR. While at the FSA and FCA, James had no involvement in respect of London Capital & Finance.
James also practises in a range of other commercial areas. In recent years, much of his work has been in international arbitration and he has appeared in arbitration disputes in the oil and gas, banking and international investment treaty sectors as well as in other arbitration disputes of a more general commercial nature. James has also acted in a range of proceedings in the English High Court including banking disputes and proceedings seeking and obtaining urgent injunctive relief.
Dorothy Cory-Wright (Head of Dechert LLP’s London Disputes Practice)
Dorothy Cory-Wright is a highly experienced lawyer advising on a variety of complex disputes matters and contentious regulatory issues. In June 2019, Dorothy was honoured with an award for "Best in Litigation" at Euromoney's European Women in Business Law Awards 2019.
Her practice spans many sectors including financial services, with clients including banks, funds, asset managers, payment services providers, private equity houses, insurers and reinsurers. Dorothy has extensive experience in supporting similar reviews having been one of the primary legal advisors to HSBC’s Monitor and having led the inquiries into the “Spygate” and “Crashgate” issues for the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. She also advised the world’s then second largest reinsurer on its EU and Bermuda entities’ responses to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Attorney General’s investigations into alternative risk transfer and finite reinsurance products and broker commissions.
Richard Frase (a Partner in the Financial Services Group in Dechert LLP’s London office)
Richard has extensive experience of the legal and regulatory aspects of the UK financial services industry, gained in private practice, in-house and with the regulators, covering both wholesale and retail markets and including regulation and compliance.
Richard was head of litigation at the Personal Investment Authority (which later became the Financial Services Authority and subsequently the Financial Conduct Authority) from 1995-1998, where he dealt with a range of compliance and enforcement matters involving life companies and financial advisers. He was seconded to the Securities and Futures Authority during 1989-1991, where he advised on policy and legal matters, and carried out extensive work on the conduct of business rules. He was a member of the London Metal Exchange and SFA arbitration panels for 10 years, sitting as an arbitrator in more than 30 arbitrations.
John Bedford (Counsel in the Contentious Regulatory and Investigations team in Dechert LLP’s London office)
John has advised corporations and board committees on the conduct of investigations into allegations of bribery, corruption, money laundering, fraud and breach of domestic and international sanctions and/or export controls. These matters have involved prosecutors, regulators and enforcement agencies, including the FCA.
John has extensive experience in supporting similar reviews having been one of the primary legal advisors to HSBC’s Monitor. He has also assisted clients at voluntary interviews with the FCA in connection with authorisation issues.