Mark Rainsford

Has prosecuted and defended in many hundreds of trials, including serious fraud cases.

Acting for a corporate in a global investigation into alleged procurement fraud involving the Royal Navy, the US Navy and other NATO allied forces.

UK standing counsel for Jho Low Tek, principal in the 1MDB $7bn investment fraud.

Defended the former Chief Investigator at the SFO in ENRC PLC.

Defended an investment banker in NMC PLC following the collapse of a FTSE 100 company shorted by a hedge fund.

Acted for Vincent Tchenguiz in a failed SFO investigation.

Defending John ‘Robert’ Manning, former senior partner of Fox Hayes Solicitors, and securing his acquittal after he was charged with bribery and conspiracy to defraud in relation to a £70m boilerroom share scam

Advising a FTSE 100 Fortune 500 company in relation to a global investigation after a whistle-blower alleged that military contracts had been obtained by bribery in several countries.

Successfully defending a director of a major retail bank facing an internal investigation into fraud allegations and following extensive investigations by the police and the bank. The case was NFA’d after detailed representations were made as to why there should be no charges.

Standing Counsel advisory role in relation to a principal in the 1 MDB sovereign wealth fund investigations.

Successfully defending the directors and beneficial owners of a UK based MSB, arrested for allegedly laundering £1 billion in cash. Complex legal representations were made as to why there should be no charges against the directors and the case was dropped after a 4 -year police investigation.

Representing two individuals in relation to a civil dispute between a FTSA 100 company, the SFO and a City law firm.

Defending a private banker indicted for money laundering allegations in relation to the alleged theft of €100m.

Advising the chairman of a plc in relation to restraint proceedings and providing pre-charge advice in relation to the London Capital Finance fraud case and London Oil & Gas PLC.

Advisory role in connection with Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) v. Société Generate, a $2.1 billion claim in relation to a series of disputed trades, including derivatives, before Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was ousted.

Advising the former managing director of a group of MSBs in relation to an allegation of the laundering of £700m.

Successfully defending and securing the acquittal of John Robert Manning, former senior partner of a large commercial law firm, on trial for major corruption charges.

Advising the CEO of a hedge fund in relation conflicts of interest and the fiduciary duties of company directors.

Representing the Ministry of Environment of a European sovereign state when their stock exchange was compromised by cyber-hackers; shares were switched to the London Stock Exchange and spot trading commenced; obtaining emergency freezing injunctions and Norwich Pharmacal orders.

Advising a former Northern property tycoon and one-time championship league football club director in relation to Insolvency Act offences.

Defending a City of London law firm and several partners in civil fraud proceedings and also a proposed private prosecution following the alleged theft of many millions of pounds from a client account of funds destined for the acquisition of a US listed company. Providing strategic advice resulting in extinguishing the claim.

Headed an internal investigation on behalf of a property developer into alleged corruption of the Prime Minister, Deputy Minister and Minister for Planning of the Turks & Caicos Islands. Mark negotiated the first civil recovery order and immunity from prosecution agreement following a Commission of Inquiry and political corruption investigation.

Leading counsel for the former Chairman and CEO of RBG Metals plc. in £1.2 billion hidden assets confiscation proceedings. This related to a multi-billion-pound fraud on lending institutions in Europe and the USA and resulted in an order for the defendant to pay £20m.

Recovered £5m from a serious acquisitive criminal following his conviction for money laundering offences and obtained the first Financial Reporting Order applied for by the Metropolitan Police.

Leading Kennedy Talbot in hidden assets confiscation proceedings following the conviction of the defendant in two missing trader VAT frauds with a combined revenue loss of £50 million.

Advising the former non-executive chairman of an AIM listed company following unproven allegations of breach of fiduciary relationship.

Leading two junior counsel prosecuting a £55.5 million missing trader intra-community carousel fraud.

Leading counsel for the appellant tried in the first MITIC VAT fraud. Successfully argued that following a trial lasting six months, the judge had invited unjustifiable adverse inferences from the evidence to be drawn against the defendant.

Prosecuted the first agricultural flat rate addition fraud.

Successfully defending an arms dealer in relation to the importation into Heathrow Airport of military grade machine guns.

Defending the chairman of a marketing and advertising agency in the Abbey National Bank nine-month corruption trial at the Central Criminal Court. The issues included commercial public interest immunity and breach of fiduciary relationship by a director.

Appointed by the Attorney General as counsel with an overview role in 44 conjoined appeals arising from disclosure failures in 44 major fraud trails.

Advised a senior executive in the Unaoil investigation.

Acting for a billionaire in a putative £300m private fraud prosecution against HS2 Ltd.

Acted for the principal suspect in London Capital & Finance PLC, a £237m, 11,600victim Ponzi fraud.

Defended an investment banker in the €100m Allseas Inc. fraud and money laundering trial.

Acted for the CEO and the company in the CWM FX £50m Ponzi fraud, in a crossborder internal investigation and City of London Police investigation.

Leading the defence for a major accounting and business advisory firm, self- reporting suspected bribery offences to the SFO, after it was discovered that bribes had been paid and law enforcement authorities, government departments and corporates had been compromised in 74 different countries. Securing a non-prosecution outcome.

Appointed by the Attorney General as counsel with an overview role in 44 major conjoined appeals arising from disclosure failures in significant prosecutions.

Instructed in ongoing restraint proceedings regarding £48m assets belonging to a holding company and several HNW individuals.

Successfully advising and representing a former Chief Investigator of the SFO in connection with ENRC proceedings against the SFO.

Successfully prosecuting a FTSE 250 company in relation to regulatory breaches.

Instructed by a foreign government in an overseas “Kleptocracy” asset recovery case.

Representing the former CEO of a foreign exchange company, managing internal investigation, and providing pre-charge advice in relation to an ongoing investigation concerning suspected large scale investor fraud.

Successfully defended Hong Kong businessman James Sutherland, chairman of a large group of fiduciary companies, securing his acquittal as the main defendant in a criminal trial on money laundering charges concerning $120m proceeds of a boiler room fraud.

Pre-charge advice to the directors of an MSB under investigation in relation to suspected money laundering offences.

Advising an investment bank in relation to and internal investigation regarding financing the acquisition of overseas mineral extraction rights.

Advising a claimant in relation to a £50m civil fraud claim arising from alleged LIBOR rigging by a bank.

Representing a major business advisory and accounting firm in respect of the wholesale illegal acquisition of confidential information ultimately sourced from public officials in multiple jurisdictions; advising on the internal investigation, self-reporting and negotiating with the SFO.

Defending a London Finance House in civil fraud proceedings concerning a £10m cash advance fee in connection with a $105m loan.

Advising the Board of a Global multi-national group of companies in relation to suspected payments to foreign military officials. Heading the internal investigation and advising on criminal liability and whether to self-report.

“EastEnders”: Mark obtained management receivership and restraint orders over the assets of a group of companies with an annual turnover of £140m. This followed a criminal investigation into the activities of two of the shareholders.

Defended a director of a substantial company, facing charges which alleged that through the company’s trading with European suppliers millions of pounds in excise duty and VAT had been evaded. The case involved complex and detailed arguments concerning abuse of the process of the court.

Defending in major diversion fraud. The case was dropped following submissions relating to abuse of process in the context disclosure failings.

Successfully defended an international law firm in connection with illegal facilitation payments.

Successfully defended an international corporate law firm following a dawn raid on their premises upon an allegation that they made facilitation payments to overseas foreign officials in order to speed up routine visa applications made on behalf a global accounting firm. Leading the internal investigation and preparing and presenting a successful rebuttal.

Recovering £5 million of assets from the head of a serious and acquisitive criminal gang in confiscation proceedings, working with the Specialist Crime Directorate at New Scotland Yard. The case concerned extortion, blackmail, drugs trafficking, carousel fraud, money laundering and many other crimes.

Successfully defended the principal defendant in two separate trials in Grand Cayman.

Instructed for the Respondents in an appeal following conviction for a £20 million diversion fraud case. Alleged revenue loss in region £200 million.

General in an overview role concerning London City Bond. This followed the discovery of serious disclosure failures in fraud cases. Reviewing the safety of convictions in 44 major fraud cases.

Advising a global multinational company in the luxury goods sector in relation to serious breaches of AML compliance.

Representing a French investment banker, tried in absentia, in connection with role in alleged money laundering, following a $101m fraud against a Dutch billionaire.

NMC PLC: representing an individual banker in connection with the administration of a FTSE 100 healthcare company that collapsed after its shares were shorted by a New York hedge fund.

Successfully defending a director of a major retail bank facing an internal investigation into fraud allegations and following extensive investigations by the police and the bank. The case was NFA’d after detailed representations were made as to why there should be no charges.

Martin was led by Mark Rainsford KC where they successfully obtained an ex parte freezing injunction in aid of substantive proceedings in Cyprus for EUR 3.52m. The case concerned a series of complicated contractual structures in order to effect a transaction without falling foul of the various sanctions regimes. The Defendant was alleged to have breached one of the numerous contracts by failing to meet his obligations causing the entire structure to fall apart. When served with the interim freezing injunction, the Defendant systematically dissipated his assets. Martin and Mark secured the continuation of the freezing order at return hearings including which dealt with jurisdiciton and the substantive injunction. Martin conducted a number of the interim hearings alone.

£5bn Chinese BTC – representing the largest group of victims in civil recovery proceedings.

Drafting the National Protocol for seizure of crypto-currencies, on behalf of 42 police forces and in conjunction with the NCA and the Home Office.

Representing a HNW third party individual seeking to recover £18m in Bitcoins that are affected by restraint proceedings.

Representing Interested Party in £18m BTC confiscation proceedings at the CCC. Successfully negotiating an exclusion of 50% of the BTC.

Representing the police in resisting applications by a crypto assets trading platform to set aside account freezing orders and in extant forfeiture proceedings.

Representing the Lithuanian state in obtaining external restraint orders over the property of a well-known Russian oligarch.

Martin was led by Mark Rainsford KC where they successfully obtained an ex parte freezing injunction in aid of substantive proceedings in Cyprus for EUR 3.52m. The case concerned a series of complicated contractual structures in order to effect a transaction without falling foul of the various sanctions regimes. The Defendant was alleged to have breached one of the numerous contracts by failing to meet his obligations causing the entire structure to fall apart. When served with the interim freezing injunction, the Defendant systematically dissipated his assets. Martin and Mark secured the continuation of the freezing order at return hearings including which dealt with jurisdiciton and the substantive injunction. Martin conducted a number of the interim hearings alone.

Immediate judgment was obtained against the Defendant for unpaid invoices for the provision of IT consultants and software licences. In a rare instance, HE Justice Sir Jeremy Cooke held that economic loss following various breaches of contract had been demonstrated to have been foreseeable and the DIFC Courts awarded the claimant additional damages under Article 17(3) for losses arising purely from non-payment of money. The Defendant was ordered to pay the entirety of the Claimants costs and interest.

Acting for 5,714 victims in £5bn Bitcoin civil recovery proceedings.

Defended the Chairman of Zetland Inc., who, as principal defendant, was acquitted of $120m money laundering charges following a 3month Serious Fraud Office trial.

Acting for a senior overseas official in an Unexplained Wealth Order investigation.

Defending John Gill, a UHNW property developer, who allegedly caused or permitted his company to pay a $1m bribe to former Prime Minister Michael Misick, for overriding the refusal to allow planning permission for a seven storey hotel on a 100-acre beach front site in Turks & Caicos. Securing a non- prosecution outcome.

Successfully acting for a claimant IT company against Liberty Steel in the DIFC before Justice Sir Jeremy Cooke in 7Ci Technologies v Liberty Steel Group Holdings EMEA Ltd DIFC CFI 003. Immediate judgment was obtained against the defendant for very substantial unpaid invoices for IT consultants and software licences, and in a rare instance the DIFC Courts awarded additional damages under Article 17(3) for losses arising purely from nonpayment of money. The defendant was ordered to pay the claimant’s costs and interest in full.

Advising an overseas government in relation to a regulatory complaint against the BBC for defamation.

Successfully defended a £10m summary judgment application in the Commercial Court brought by a major energy company against an SME, in which it was alleged that the defendants had defrauded the claimants, deploying a POCAbased strategy to show that the claimants (represented by a Magic Circle firm) did not come to the court with clean hands and that there was a triable issue.

Acting for an investment banker in a €2bn claim by a sovereign wealth fund against one of the world’s largest investment banks.

Martin was led by Mark Rainsford KC where they successfully obtained an ex parte freezing injunction in aid of substantive proceedings in Cyprus for EUR 3.52m. The case concerned a series of complicated contractual structures in order to effect a transaction without falling foul of the various sanctions regimes. The Defendant was alleged to have breached one of the numerous contracts by failing to meet his obligations causing the entire structure to fall apart. When served with the interim freezing injunction, the Defendant systematically dissipated his assets. Martin and Mark secured the continuation of the freezing order at return hearings including which dealt with jurisdiciton and the substantive injunction. Martin conducted a number of the interim hearings alone.

Advising a highprofile UHNW individual in relation to a libel claim against the BBC.

Appeared for Roman Abramovich (Minden Worldwide Ltd) in a 5day unfair prejudice appeal: EWCA Civ 1371.

Successfully defended an £18m claim in the Chancery Division by overseas claimants seeking the return of funds allegedly misappropriated by several partners of a City law firm, demonstrating that the claimants did not come with clean hands and securing a very lowcost outcome for the clients while thwarting a putative private prosecution.

Acting for the Spanish Ministry of Environment in the Commercial Court, obtaining Norwich Pharmacal Orders and injunctive relief to prevent further spot trading of carbon credit awards after the Spanish Stock Exchange was hacked during a bank holiday weekend.