Mark Rainsford QC specialises in Corporate wrongdoing, internal investigations, financial crime and bribery & corruption.

Corporate wrongdoing and financial crime

Mark’s work includes:

• Advising corporate organisations and individual directors on issues concerning bribery and corruption, including corruption of overseas officials.
• Conducting internal investigations, negotiating with regulators.
• Drafting corporate compliance programs and training staff.
• Instructed by one of the world’s largest law firms to conduct an internal investigation and advise one of the world’s largest multi-national companies.
• Advising and representing City law firms and other commercial organisations on dawn raids and judicial review of search warrants.
• Prosecuting and defending serious and complex fraud trials, including allegations concerning corruption, tax and VAT frauds, MTIC fraud, duty evasion fraud, banking fraud,  insider trading and market abuse;  reviewing the safety of convictions in fraud trials and conducting appeals in fraud related and other cases.
• Prosecuting and defending cases concerning organised crime, money laundering, public nuisance, the illegal importation of military weapons, gross negligence manslaughter, medical malpractice, specialised drug trafficking cases (airdrops and cartels) and other large and highly complex and multi-jurisdictional criminal cases.

Regulatory

Mark has over twenty years experience appearing before professional disciplinary tribunals, ten years experience sitting on disciplinary tribunals and three  years experience of chairing disciplinary hearings, including adjudication panels and appeals.

He has conducted hearings before and also sat on panels with High Court Judges (including a Lord Justice of Appeal).

Notable Cases

2010

• R v. Rastogi.  Leading counsel for the former Chairman and CEO of RBG Metals plc in £1.2 billion hidden assets confiscation proceedings. Leading Professor Rudi Fortson QC in this multi- billion pound fraud on lending institutions in Europe and the USA.

2009

• R – v – Simons. 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.
• Representing an international corporate law firm following a dawn raid on their premises.
• Leading  the  internal investigation and successful rebuttal of the allegations.
• Advising the  former non-executive chairman of an AIM listed  company following unproven allegations of breach of fiduciary relationship.

2008

• R –v – A.  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

2007

• Leading two junior counsel prosecuting a £55.5 million missing trader intra-community carousel fraud.
• Defended the principal defendant in two separate trials in Grand Cayman.

2006

• 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.
• Instructed for the Respondents in an appeal following conviction for a £20 million diversion fraud case. Alleged revenue loss in region £200 million.
• Prosecuted the first agricultural flat rate addition fraud.
• Appeared in the House of Lords appeal of R. v. Rimmington and Goldstein, concerning the scope of the common law offence of public nuisance.
• Between 2002 and 2006, retained by the Attorney- 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.

Mark’s previous trials include 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.

He has also practised as a common lawyer in all manner of cases in the County Court, the Queen’s Bench Division on interlocutory applications, judicial review, trials, and claims on the Masters’ Corridor and at arbitrations.