Merry van Woodenberg

Business Crime & Financial Services

The breadth of Merry’s experience in white-collar crime, both prosecuting and defending, means she is perfectly placed to act in cases involving serious financial offending.

Merry’s practice in this area is complemented by her past employment at a Band 1 specialist white-collar crime firm, at the Financial Conduct Authority (in Retail, the Criminal Prosecutions Team and the Proceeds of Crime department), and advising the Economic Crime Command Unit in Jersey. She is currently instructed as counsel for the FCA in a case involving alleged misstatements to the market.

Merry has acted in cases involving allegations of bribery, fraud, insider dealing, money laundering, misstatements, and tax evasion. She has an unusual level of sanctions and export controls experience for her call, with experience of alleged breaches of trade and financial sanctions and of export controls of dual-use products. She has worked on cases and advices in this area for topics ranging from oil, to terrorist financing, to spyware.

Some recent cases in financial crime include:

• Acting for FCA in first prosecution of market manipulation offences under the Financial Services Act 2012. CFO and FD convicted and sentenced to 5 1/2 years and 3 years respectively.
• Acting for the prosecution in the first case involving offences under the Bribery Act 2010 in the English Premiership.
• Acting for the defence in the first Data Protection Act criminal case in which a corporate defendant was charged. Following legal argument as to the construction of a statutory defence, Merry’s client was acquitted of all charges.
• Acting for the defence in a case involving a £4million conspiracy to defraud the Legal Aid Agency. Merry’s client, a Compliance Officer in a solicitor’s firm, was acquitted of all charges.
• Acting as sole prosecution counsel in a fraud case with a national security element.