Will Martin

Business Crime & Financial Services

Will specialises in defending and prosecuting cases of business and white collar crime, including high value fraud, bribery and corruption, money laundering, and bankruptcy and insolvency offences.

Will has extensive experience both defending and prosecuting SFO and FCA cases. He spent a year seconded to the FCA working on Operation Tabernula, the largest ever insider trading prosecution brought by the regulator, and Operation Cotton, a multi-million pound land banking fraud.

Will has experience defending in high-value cases involving cryptocurrencies, and engaging with complex concepts such as Bitcoin clustering and tracing.

Will is experienced in defending complex confiscation proceedings at first instance and before the Court of Appeal.

Recent Cases:

R v AH & Ors

Led junior defending the company director of a demolition company alleged to have bribed employees of a large multinational construction company to favour his workers. Instructed by Shearman Bowen solicitors.

R v JL & Ors

Defence of individual charged with involvement in a conspiracy to defraud customers of Blockchain.com of massive amounts of Bitcoin (£15m plus) using a spoofed website.

Insolvency Service v A, B & C

Advising the directors of a MedTech company in relation to an Insolvency Service investigation into an alleged failure to notify creditors of an application to strike off a company.

Operation Grapevine

Leading junior defending a disqualified company director accused of the laundering the proceeds of a £13m Ponzi scheme. The trial at Southwark Crown Court lasted two months. Instructed by Shearman Bowen solicitors.

Lam v R

Appeal against first instance judge’s determination of a wife’s interest in assets available to satisfy confiscation order (the marital home) following the husband’s conviction for tax evasion. Reported at Lam v R. [2022] EWCA Crim 448.

SFO v Thomas & Ors

Led junior defending the CEO of an international fibre-optic / infrastructure company alleged to have played a significant role in a factoring fraud perpetrated against Barclays and KBC banks to the value of £160m. The trial at Southwark Crown Court lasted five months. Instructed by Janes Solicitors.