Members of Littleton Chambers’ Civil Fraud Group are regularly instructed in some of the most significant, high-value, and complex litigation in the field, appearing before the Commercial Court, Business and Property Courts, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court.

The Civil Fraud Group’s expertise Includes:

  • Complex, multi-party fraud claims spanning multiple jurisdictions
  • Claims for deceit and misrepresentation
  • Claims breach of trust, dishonest assistance and knowing receipt
  • Claims for unlawful means conspiracy and other economic torts
  • Actions arising from breaches of duty by directors or corporate controllers
  • Disputes governed by foreign law, including the use of foreign law expert evidence
  • Litigation involving sophisticated international trust structures
  • Fraud-related claims involving cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin
  • Cases across all commercial sectors, with particular emphasis on financial services
  • Applications for worldwide freezing orders, search order, imaging orders, proprietary injunctions, Norwich Pharmacal and Bankers Trust orders, anti-suit and anti-enforcement injunctions
  • Asset-tracing and enforcement
  • Contempt of court proceedings
  • Offshore litigation, particularly in the BVI and other Caribbean jurisdictions, Channel Islands and Isle of Man, DIFC, AIFC and Singapore – see our International & Offshore page

Littleton barristers have extensive experience in matters with a strong international dimension, whether due to foreign parties, the application of foreign law, or cross-border jurisdictional issues. Members have developed expertise in disputes arising out of the Russian, and the former Soviet Union, the Middle East (including litigation in the DIFC), and in litigation involving the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and other offshore jurisdictions. Several members are fluent in multiple foreign languages, including two who are fluent in Russian.

The Group is consistently recognised by both Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500 as being at the forefront of civil fraud litigation.

The Group is particularly well-regarded for its skill in urgent applications and cases involving serious allegations of misconduct, where dishonesty is central to the dispute.

Members have appeared in landmark civil fraud cases such as

  • Dadourian v Simms which established for the first time the Dadourian guidelines on when the court will permitting enforcement abroad of a worldwide freezing injunction
  • BTA Bank v Ablyazov, the famous multi-billion-dollar Kazakh fraud claim spanning 11 claims and multiple judgments
  • BTA Bank v Khrapunov, appeal to the Supreme Court on conspiracy to defeat a worldwide freezing order
  • PrivatBank v Kolomoisky, multi-billion-dollar Ukrainian banking fraud claim
  • National Bank Trust v Yurov, billion-dollar Russian banking fraud claim
  • Kazakhstan Kagazy v Zhunus, multi-billion-dollar Kazah corporate fraud
  • Gorbachev v Guriev, a Russian oligarch dispute over shareholding worth $1bn in a Russian company listed on the London Stock Exchange arising out of the Yukos investigations;
  • Jinxin v Aser Media, a commercial fraud and share sale dispute on media rights in the football industry
  • Mozambique v Credit Suisse, the ‘tuna bonds’ case alleging bribery and corruption in relation to sovereign bonds issues by Mozambique worth $2bn
  • Athena Capital Fund v Secretariat of the Holy See, the Vatican’s ‘trial of the century’ concerning the Vatican’s investment in a landmark building on Sloane Avenue in Chelsea, London