Bivonas has extensive experience advising individuals and corporate clients in relation to all aspects of fraud and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulatory litigation. The firm regularly deals with all the major prosecution agencies, industry regulators and professional governing bodies. Our cases proceed in both the criminal and civil courts. Bivonas manage internal corporate investigations involving suspected bribery and corruption and/or regulatory breaches, assisting clients to avoid prosecution or to mitigate penalties that may be imposed by regulators in competing jurisdictions.

The FCA, formerly known as the Financial Services Authority, regulates the financial services industry in the UK and has far reaching powers to investigate, often in parallel, both regulatory breaches of the FCA’s Principles for Businesses and Approved Persons and complex financial crime including market abuse and insider dealing. These investigations often involve cross border investigations with other regulators such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the USA.

The FCA has become more proactive in the exercise of its enforcement and investigation powers and this has led to a number of high profile cases including those involving the manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and the largest insider dealing case being prosecuted. Individuals facing a FCA investigation could ultimately face a number of penalties including, a substantial fine, prohibition from working in the financial services industry and prison.

Bivonas has represented individuals in cases involving LIBOR manipulation, market abuse and insider dealing.