A look at the most read stories on eprivateclient this week…
Monday
UK law firm Cripps Pemberton Greenish appointed Victoria Fairley as a partner in its London private wealth team. With over 20 years’ experience advising on estate, tax and succession planning, Ms Fairley joined from RadcliffesLeBrasseur where she led the tax and private client team.
Reports of HMRC-branded phishing scams increased by 87 percent in the past year. According to data obtained via a Freedom of Information request from accountancy group Lanop Outsourcing, the number of scams increased from 572,029 to 1,069,522 in the financial year April 2020-21.
Tuesday
Fiduciary services provider Zedra said it expected to see triple digit revenue growth in 2021, having expanded its client base by 20 percent between October 2020 and June 2021. The firm’s headcount also tripled in the same period with an additional 139 employees.
A Politically Exposed Person agreed to surrender £4 million which was transferred via the Azerbaijan Laundromat money laundering scheme. London-based Suleyman Javadov has close links to the ruling elite in Azerbaijan where his father was deputy energy minister until his dismissal last year. The National Crime Agency (NCA) was granted Account Freezing Orders in 2018 and 2019 on ten bank accounts held by Mr Javadov and his wife Izzat Khanim Javadova which contained a total of £6.4 million.
Wednesday
US-focused UK advisory firm EY Frank Hirth made 16 senior promotions to its team. Of the 16 professionals, eight were promoted to manager, seven to senior manager and one director. The EY Frank Hirth technical tax team now numbers over 130 people, including 6 partners and 12 directors.
Research from real estate, residency and citizenship through investment firm, Astons, revealed which prime global real estate markets are on course to see the biggest increase in values in 2021 with chart toppers Monaco forecast to see an average real estate value of £2 million in 2021, with Hong Kong second (£1.3 million) and London third (£1 million).
Thursday
Former eprivateclient Top 35 Under 35 Stuart Dowding moved to Intertrust Group. Mr Dowding has joined the global fiduciary services provider from rival firm IQ-EQ as a client services director. He had been with IQ-EQ since 2014 following the acquisition of Mercator Trust and was promoted from associate director to client services director at the start of 2015.
The former owner of a West London law firm was jailed for more than three years for stealing £380,000 in stamp duty. Manpreet Singh was the owner and director of Reemans Solicitors Ltd where he filed 52 fraudulent SDLT returns to HMRC between November 2010 and July 2015.
Friday
International law firm Withers promoted seven lawyers to partner from across its Asia, Europe and US west coast offices with effect from 1 July 2021. This follows a similarly international 12 partner promotion round in January 2021. The new partner appointees include litigators, property lawyers, an investment fund adviser and a tax and estate planning lawyer.
A fraudster who used stolen cash to fund a lavish lifestyle filled with luxury cars and holidays was sentenced to seven years in prison. Veekshit Ramoo, who was arrested after arriving at Heathrow Airport on a flight from Mauritius in May 2019, submitted £2.1 million of fraudulent VAT repayment claims to HMRC. The claims were made through his book-keeping company Ramoo Associates UK Ltd, for VAT payments to suppliers that were never made.