Service

Corporate crime

Should things go wrong, we’re on hand with immediate advice to protect your brand and reputation

Corporate crime typically increases during an economic downturn. It’s now more important than ever to protect your business and stakeholders.

Should things go wrong, we’re there for you. Our experts are on hand with immediate advice on incident response. We know that any allegation or investigation can attract attention from shareholders, rivals, customers, media and the wider public. We manage risk during any process to protect your brand and reputation so you can focus on business.

Beyond investigations, we have immense litigation experience with all of New Zealand’s main prosecuting regulators including the Commerce Commission, the Financial Markets Authority, Inland Revenue and the Serious Fraud Office. Our specialists offer protection against, and responses to allegations of fraud, money laundering, corruption, cartel conduct, tax evasion, insider trading and market manipulation, by:

  • creating internal policies and compliance programmes
  • advising on sensitive disclosures
  • running culture and conduct reviews
  • conducting internal investigations and witness interviews
  • prosecuting and defending criminal regulatory enforcement action.
  • Advising German financial services firm, Wirecard, on New Zealand aspects of the global investigation into high-profile allegations of large-scale accounting irregularities.
  • Defending New Zealand’s largest retailer, The Warehouse Group, on criminal charges pursued against trading subsidiaries by the Commerce Commission on various matters.
  • Successfully defending clients such as global tobacco firm, Philip Morris, on criminal charges advanced at trial in the District Court.
  • Acting as counsel for the Republic of Kazakhstan in litigation against a New Zealand-domiciled cyber locker holding information on criminal hacking of the Republic’s information systems.
  • Advising a large New Zealand multinational on high-value employee fraud, recovering stolen funds through asset freezing orders, and working with New Zealand Police to secure conviction and a five-year prison term for the offender.