Keynote
Jo Gideon, Director, WhistleblowersUK
Former MP Jo Gideon has an impressive Parliamentary career following a career in both the public and private sectors that has taken her around the world. In Government Jo served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Business Department (BEIS) before stepping down to spearhead a successful campaign to improve button battery safety following the tragic death of toddler Harper-Lee Fanthorpe. Jo was a member of a number of high profile committees including the influential 1922 Executive, the Public Administration & Constitutional Affairs Committee, and vice chair of the APPG for Whistleblowing. Since stepping down as an MP Jo has joined the board of WhistleblowersUK to help drive the campaign to transform whistleblowing legislation in the UK. Jo will be discussing the work of WhistleblowersUK, the campaign for meaningful rights for whistleblowers, and the roll of investigators and the investigative process in cultural change.
The UK Whistleblowers Bill
Neil Donovan, Partner, Ashurst
Neil specialises in global criminal and regulatory investigations. Neil acts for financial institutions and corporates across a range of sectors (including energy and natural resources, transportation, manufacturing, consumer goods and tele-communications). Neil has particular expertise in corporate crime matters and has completed a secondment to the Serious Fraud Office. He has acted for clients on multi-jurisdictional investigations related to allegations of bribery and corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, and accounting fraud. A key part of Neil’s practice is advising clients on the application of the UK sanctions and anti-money laundering regimes. He also regularly advises on these risks in the context of corporate transactions and on the implementation of financial crime compliance programmes.
Liz Parkin, Counsel, Ashurst
Liz advises on all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment law. She has particular experience providing business immigration advice to clients in respect of sponsoring workers, right to work issues and compliance. Liz has extensive experience providing strategic advice on TUPE, business reorganisations and transactions, as well as dismissals, and disciplinary and grievance issues at executive levels. Additionally, Liz has represented numerous clients in employment tribunal proceedings and provided support, training and guidance on data privacy matters. Liz has worked with clients in a variety of sectors, including government, finance, technology, retail and manufacturing.
Fireside Chat
Jonathan Taylor, Whistleblower
Former corporate and in-house lawyer, FBI informant, key witness in Brazil’s notorious Carwash corruption mega-scandal, victim of a spurious Interpol Red Notice, and recipient of the 2021 Blueprint Prize for Whistleblowing. Jonathan has had an eventful decade since he first helped unearth evidence of multi-million-dollar corruption at his former employer, Dutch listed multinational SBM Offshore, in 2012. Jonathan offers a unique insight into corporate fraud, how not to manage a crisis, cross-border investigations, and the life changing risks that whistleblowers face when they dare expose the wrong-doing of the corporate and political elite.
Recent changes in US Whistleblower reward programs
Stephen M. Kohn, founding partner , Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto, LLP & Chairman, National Whistleblower Center.
Stephen has represented whistleblowers since 1984 and is widely recognized as the leading international authority on whistleblower law. Steve represents whistleblowers in many of the world’s largest banks. He represents the whistleblower who reported the largest money laundering scheme in history ($240 billion laundered from Russia/former Soviet Union to New York banks) and obtained the largest reward ever paid to an individual whistleblower who exposed illegal offshore accounts at UBS ($104 million). His banker-clients have obtained over $400 million in rewards under the Dodd-Frank, IRS, and qui tam corporate whistleblower laws. Mr. Kohn is the most published author on whistleblower law, including The New Whistleblower’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing What’s Right and Protecting Yourself.
Stephen will speak at the event by Zoom.
Judith Seddon, Partner, Ashurst
Judith is a preeminent white collar lawyer, representing clients in matters relating to financial crime and in regulatory proceedings and criminal investigations and prosecutions. Judith advises individual and corporate clients in some of the most significant and complex investigations mounted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, and by prosecuting authorities across the globe, acting as a trusted adviser in navigating the myriad of unexpected challenges involved in managing cross-border investigations. She has conducted numerous internal investigations for clients involving highly sensitive matters, advising on reporting to the regulators and authorities, and has successfully defended clients against threatened actions by the SFO, FCA, HMRC and other government agencies, including the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Judith is consistently recognised as a top white collar lawyer by legal publications. Ranked in Band 1 for both Financial Crime Corporates and Individuals in Chambers UK, clients describe her as “very well respected and a stellar practitioner” and “an extremely effective operator and respected in the field.
Patrick Gushue, Acting Director of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Corporate Whistleblower Awards (CWA) Pilot Program
Patrick is a trial attorney with the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section’s Bank Integrity Unit (BIU) in the Criminal Division of the DOJ. The BIU investigates and prosecutes criminal offenses involving financial institutions and their officers, employees, and agents. Patrick previously served as a civil Trial Attorney in the Tax Division at DOJ, deputy speechwriter to former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and an enforcement attorney at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Patrick received his law and undergraduate degrees from Georgetown University.
Should Whistleblowers be paid?
Ash Sharma, Head of Advisory Panel, ACi
Ash Sharma has over 20 years’ experience in investigations and financial crime risk mitigation. Ash presently manages one of two global investigation hubs for Anglo American Plc, a global mining, minerals and extraction company. His team conduct corporate ethics and compliance (including regulatory and financial crime) investigations. Ash has worked in the UK and Asia in regional and group roles for a global bank. There, he headed up an internal fraud risk, background vetting and investigation function, before leading and coordinating global significant investigations for the group. Ash is a Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Financial Crime Specialist, and Certified Cryptocurrency Investigator.
Georgina Halford-Hall, CEO, WhistlelblowersUK
Georgina is a corporate troubleshooter. She is a government recognised public figurehead in the governance of whistleblowing frameworks, including design, development, implementation and evaluation. She deals with high risk and complex advisory in the field of compliance and governance across all sectors leading specialist investigations providing strategic advice and innovative solutions. Georgina is a campaigner for change championing fairness, transparency and efficiency and promoting good corporate conduct and the benefits to UK PLC. She is a member of a number of strategic and think tank organisations globally, actively engaging with governments at home and abroad. She is director of strategy and policy to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Whistleblowing. Georgina has authored and co-authored a number of papers and reports on whistleblowing and effective whistleblowing frameworks including the development of the Whistleblowing Bill being considered by the Government.
Ruby Hamid, Partner, Ashurst
Ruby specialises in global investigations, white collar crime, compliance and risk management. Her technical expertise in bribery and corruption, money laundering, serious fraud and tax evasion supports her practice. Ruby advises clients across a broad spectrum of regulatory and criminal issues. She is a former prosecutor and spent 13 years at the independent Bar before joining a Magic Circle firm in 2015. She spent a decade leading investigations and prosecutions for the FCA, the National Crime Agency, HMRC, the CPS Specialist Fraud and Serious Crime Units, the FRC and the Environment Agency. She was Panel Counsel for the SFO, General Medical Counsel and the Office of Rail Regulation. She is a highly experienced trial lawyer, having acted as sole advocate in courts of first instance, appellate courts and before a variety of tribunals.
Stephen Storey, Head of Ethics and Compliance, Compass Group PLC
Stephen is an accomplished tech savvy ethics & compliance and investigations leader with expertise in programme management, ABC, anti-fraud, AML, CTF, training and 3rd party/human risk. His strategic and innovative “design thinking” approach to embedding regulatory frameworks coupled with applied knowledge of criminal law & procedures and behavioural science has enabled him to integrate and evolve business friendly preventative/measurable programmes. Passionate, pragmatic and grounded, he is a trusted advisor at the strategy table and able to influence through partnership, risk evaluation and performance. Resilient with a strong work ethic and sound judgement – he’s known for walking the talk and building a ‘One Team’ culture;
Recently recognised by GIR as a top 15 in-house professional for his efforts to ‘create and promote ethical corporate practice’. Described on the conference circuit as a “compliance influencer/ambassador” and his network have remarked he is “unflappable” and an advisor “for all seasons”.