The new head of the Serious Fraud Office – Richard Alderman, a barrister and former top tax investigator – says more energy should be put into helping consumer fraud victims, signalling a potential shift of focus away from high-profile corporate graft.
Alderman told the Financial Times his main ambitions were to seize more proceeds of crime to reimburse victims, bring cases to court more quickly and educate people to protect themselves from fraud.
‘I want us to put the victims at the heart of what we do ... looking at bringing justice to the victims, compensating them – I think that’s very important,’ he said.
He said key areas would include advance fee frauds, ‘Ponzi’ pyramid schemes and so-called ‘boiler room frauds’ which tricked small investors into buying near-worthless shares.
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