Peter Lownds

Peter Lownds

"His advocacy is excellent and he is really superb in terms of cross-examining."

Chambers UK 2024
Year of call: 1998
For enquiries please call: 020 7353 5324 or email vcard cv linkedin save

Business Crime & Financial Services

Peter is a former civil litigation solicitor with City firm Slaughter and May. He has substantial experience in defending serious and complex cases involving allegations of fraud, money laundering, corruption, and high value confiscation.

He is listed as a leading junior in Financial Crime by Chambers UK.

His fraud experience encompasses all types of cases including advanced fee, false identity, mortgage, benefit, and Ponzi and pyramid schemes.

Earlier this year he successfully defended a professional businesswoman accused of involvement in a substantial business fraud following a three-month trial in which all the other defendants were convicted.

He also recently acted for a business owner accused of involvement in a boiler room fraud. The case concerned the selling to private investors of a US-based investment product that involved lending money to pay- day loan companies. The trial included a major conflict with the other leading defendant and complex confiscation proceedings.

Peter’s other recent high-profile cases include representing a Russian banker charged with accepting bribes from a US based consultant representing oil and gas companies seeking loans from a European bank. The case lasted over seven years and included substantial issues of disclosure. He has also represented the owner of a Northern Soul record supply business accused of widespread fraudulent trading over a five-year period and breach of copyright and trades mark offences. The case included a challenge to the admissibility of the record examination conducted by the prosecution’s expert.

His imminent trials include representing a company director accused of being involved in an alleged six-year long “cash for crash” insurance fraud, and defending a businesswoman accused of participation in a substantial international time-share fraud.

Notable Previous Cases:

2023

K v X (Southwark CC)

Acting for client acquitted in a multi-million-pound consumer product fraud and money laundering trial.

2021

R v I (Southwark CC)

Acting for a business owner accused of involvement in a boiler room fraud concerning the selling to private investors of a US based investment product involving the lending of money to pay-day loan companies.

2019

R v D (Southwark CC)

Representing a director charged with fraudulent trading concerning the activities of a food distribution company.

2018

R v P (Cardiff CC)

Acting for a wholesale Northern Soul music manufacturer and seller accused of fraudulent trading and breach of copyright and trades mark offences.

R v B (Teesside CC)

Acting for retired magistrate accused of money laundering his son’s drugs receipts.

2017

R v R (Central Criminal Court)

Acting for a senior banker in an immensely factually complex banking corruption case concerning allegations of bribes being accepted in regard to applications to a European bank from oil and gas companies in the old Soviet Republics.

2016

R v P (Southwark CC) 

Acting for a company owner charged with involvement in multimillion pound international banking fraud involving the theft of monies from the bank accounts of extremely wealthy individuals.

R v R (Blackfriars CC)

Representing the owner of rail engineering consultancy company charged with evading all income tax, national insurance, and VAT for 13 years.

R v H (Nottingham CC)

Acting for a business director charged, together with his wife (a retired District Judge), with the forgery of a will and other documents to facilitate the theft of two country cottages.

2015

R v B (Southwark CC)

Acting for the assistant to the managing director in a high value City-based diamond trading fraud that involved the selling of overpriced coloured diamonds to investors.

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