Simpson Thacher & Bartlett: Disappointed at SRA decision
The London office of a leading US law firm is to face the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) over alleged failures of its anti-money laundering (AML) controls lasting several years.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has expressed disappointment that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has chosen to take this step, describing the shortcomings it is accused of as “historic”.
On their face, the charges set out in the notice of prosecution published yesterday are the same as those for which dozens of law firms have been fined by the SRA in recent months without referral to the tribunal.
This indicates that the SRA believes the failures to comply with the 2017 Money Laundering Regulations warrant a fine greater than the £25,000 it can hand out, possibly because of the practice’s turnover.
Last week, for example, we reported on a fine of nearly £22,000 for a property law firm in Manchester for similar breaches; this was 2.4% of the firm’s turnover.
The allegations are that, between June 2017 and March 2020, Simpson Thacher did not have a firm-wide risk assessment in place, and for the next three years did not have “fully compliant” one.
It is also accused of not having fully compliant policies, controls or procedures between June 2017 and January 2023, and not having compliant client and/or matter risk assessments in relation to four files between June 2017 and October 2022.
The allegations are as yet unproven.
A Simpson Thacher spokeswoman said it was “disappointed” that the SRA had decided to bring the proceedings over “certain alleged historic AML compliance shortcomings concerning some of our written policies and procedures”.
She continued: “At no point did any money laundering occur nor was there any harm to clients or third parties in connection with the alleged shortcomings.
“We fully cooperated with the SRA during its investigation, and we are confident in our comprehensive compliance operations. We are unable to comment further due to the ongoing proceedings.”
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