Profile: Richard Abbey

Richard Abbey is head of Kroll’s London financial investigations practice.  He has 16 years’experience in forensic and financial investigations.  He has extensive experience of managing complex international frauds, multi-jurisdiction asset tracing and large accounting investigations including a number of investigations into alleged breaches of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  Richard’s investigations have covered a number of different industries and he has given evidence in the Singapore Supreme Court in relation to the tracing of assets in a complex trading commodity fraud.

Prior to joining Kroll Richard qualified as a Chartered Accountant with one of the Big Four and has worked on many large and high profile investigations, including the corporate collapses of Parmalat Spa and Barings Bank. 

 

Professional Experience

• Led the forensic investigation into alleged irregularities at Glitnir Bank in Iceland prior to its collapse in October 2008.  Kroll were appointed by the Resolution Committee to investigate transactions that took place prior to its collapse.
• Led the forensic accounting team that investigated alleged breaches of the FCPA by StatoilHydro in relation to contracts entered into in Libya.  Kroll worked under the instruction of US Counsel and conducted a detailed forensic accounting review of payments to consultants in a number of jurisdictions.  The Board of StatoilHydro made public the findings of the investigation and reports were also prepared by Counsel for the US and Norwegian regulatory authorities.
• Led an investigation on behalf of a German business acquired by a US private equity firm into allegations of bribery and corruption at its Turkish subsidiary. The investigation involved working closely with US counsel to assess any potential breaches of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
• Conducting a major investigation in India on behalf of a US multi-national into claims that its staff and distributors had bribed government officials in order to secure contracts. Kroll worked alongside US Counsel in order to assess the need for any self-reporting requirements under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
• Led the investigation into the theft of €50million from a high net worth family based in the Middle East.  This involved investigating how the fraud was carried out, tracing assets through a number of jurisdictions and developing a civil and criminal strategy in conjunction with lawyers to pursue and recover the stolen funds. 
• Investigating the alleged misappropriation of assets following the collapse of Parmalat Spa.  The investigation involved reviewing cash flows out of the business and tracing their ultimate destination.  Many destinations were offshore and hidden by complex corporate veils that required uncovering.  The assignment also involved tracing assets belonging to the family outside of the company, and assisting in the preparation of claims against third parties.
• Advising a financial institution over a US$250 million securitisation fraud. The client had lent funds secured by the borrower’s cash flows. The cash flows were diverted offshore by the borrower and used by the directors, allegedly, to finance other parts of the business and for their personal benefit. Richard led the investigation to highlight the fraudulent activities of the borrower, managed the strategy for dealing with the borrower, and advised the client on securing and recovering the funds due to them.
• Conducting a major investigation into an alleged fraud at a large distributor of domestic electronic appliances based in Germany.  The investigation involved an infiltration of a number of black market traders of the goods to obtain evidence of the fraud, followed by an extensive on-site forensic investigation of transactions and stock movements at the distributor itself.
• Conducting an investigation on behalf a high net worth family whose financial advisor had allegedly siphoned millions of dollars from their private Swiss bank accounts in breach of the account mandate.  Our work involved preparing a forensic trail of the funds' movements to be used in litigation against the banks and other third parties.
• Investigating the collapse of Barings bank.  The investigation involved preparing an overview of the trading operations in London and Singapore, identifying how cash was moved between accounts and countries together with understanding how the movements were accounted for and tracing the final destination of funds.  Richard was responsible for conducting an analysis of all of Leeson’s trades to understand who benefited from his loss making transactions as well as preparing litigation against various third parties and managing the global search for assets that Leeson or associates may have owned.
• Investigating the alleged misappropriation of US$130 million in a complex commodity fraud in the Far East.  This involved rogue traders within an organisation colluding with external parties to defraud the company via a series of commodity deals.  The investigation involved tracing assets in a number of jurisdictions including Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Switzerland, Caribbean and the US, and appearing as a witness in the Singapore Supreme Court.
• Managing the investigation of alleged impropriety by a senior UK fund manager at a major UK financial institution.  This involved unravelling a complex web of companies used to screen various unauthorised transactions, understanding the true extent of his ownership of a number of quoted companies, and resolving the related regulatory implications (such as triggering mandatory bids) and tracing the destination of funds allegedly misappropriated through multi-jurisdictions.
• Managed a large scale investigation at a leading retail bank into possible collusion between one of their senior account managers and a bank customer, in respect of the bank providing bank guarantees and other documentation to be used by the customer in respect of a multi-million high yield investment fraud, being investigated by the SFO.  The objectives were to assist the bank in identifying whether internal controls or procedures had been by-passed, whether there was any evidence of collusion and preparing a strategy for any defence of the bank should they have been brought into either civil or criminal proceedings.

Education, Certifications & Recognitions

• Qualified Chartered Accountant 1994
• Qualified as a Certified Fraud Examiner 1998