Hawthorne Partners
Criminal prosecution  /  Financial fraud  /  Forensic investigation

Investigation and case preparation for private prosecutions of financial fraud

Hawthorne Partners builds criminal cases against those who commit financial fraud. We work for the companies, lenders, investors and creditors they defraud — assembling evidence to the criminal standard and preparing the case for prosecution by an SRA-authorised firm and regulated counsel.

Offices Saxon Court, MK Gateway
502 Avebury Boulevard
Milton Keynes MK9 3GD
Referrals 01908 103 072 Reviewed by a principal within one working day
Basis Private prosecutions brought by the victim under s.6(1)
Prosecution of Offences Act 1985
Jurisdiction England & Wales
Instructions accepted nationwide

Fraud is not investigated at the scale it is committed.

Reported fraud vastly exceeds the capacity of any police force to pursue it. Files are closed for want of resource, not for want of evidence. The loss stands, the conduct goes unanswered, and the perpetrator moves on to the next set of victims.

A prosecution changes that calculation. Where the evidence is sufficient and prosecution is in the public interest, a private prosecution brings the compensation and confiscation powers of the criminal courts to bear. Our work is to build cases that meet that standard and withstand every test applied to them.

01 — Practice

What we are instructed to do

Criminal prosecution

Criminal proceedings are prepared to the standard the Crown itself would have to meet.

  • Merits and evidential sufficiency review
  • Drafting informations and charge selection
  • Drafting summons applications for issue by the authorised firm
  • Disclosure scheduling to CPIA standards, for review and service by the authorised firm
  • Preparing briefs for prosecuting counsel, instructed through the authorised firm
  • Evidence and drafting in support of compensation and confiscation applications

Fraud investigation

The evidential foundation. Where the money went, who moved it, and what the documents prove about intent.

  • Forensic accounting and ledger reconstruction
  • Bank and transaction pattern analysis
  • Asset tracing across jurisdictions
  • Digital forensics and e-discovery
  • Witness statements and exhibit management
  • Expert reports for criminal proceedings

Referral & recovery

Prosecution is one route to a result. Frequently it runs alongside recovery, or persuades an agency to act.

  • Evidence packages for police, SFO, FCA and HMRC
  • Evidence for parallel civil recovery and freezing relief
  • Insolvency and director-conduct referrals
  • Restraint and confiscation strategy
  • Internal and whistleblower investigations
  • Board and insurer reporting
02 — Standards

A prosecutor's duties, applied from day one

A prosecution is not a commercial threat dressed as a criminal case. It is subject to review, to takeover by the Crown Prosecution Service, and to the full disclosure obligations of the prosecuting party. We assume all of it at the outset, because a case built any other way will not survive.

Evidential test

We advise on whether the evidence would afford a realistic prospect of conviction — the same test the Code for Crown Prosecutors requires. If it does not, we say so before a penny is spent on proceedings.

Public interest

Scale of loss, sophistication, vulnerability of victims and the risk of repetition are assessed and recorded. A prosecution brought for improper motive is an abuse of process, and we will not prepare one.

Disclosure

Material that undermines the prosecution or assists the defence is identified and disclosed. Schedules are maintained to CPIA standards from the first document received.

Reserved activities

The conduct of litigation and rights of audience are reserved under the Legal Services Act 2007. We prepare, investigate and instruct; regulated counsel and authorised firms discharge the reserved work and appear in court. On every prosecution an SRA-authorised firm is formally on the record, conducts the litigation and instructs counsel; independent counsel regulated by the Bar Standards Board appear in court. The authorised firm is confirmed in writing at engagement.

03 — Process

From referral to disposal

01

Assessment

The loss, the documents and the identifiable suspects are reviewed against the evidential and public-interest tests. You receive a written view on whether a prosecution is viable.

02

Investigation

Evidence is gathered and preserved to criminal standards — continuity, exhibits, statements, expert analysis — so that it is admissible rather than merely persuasive.

03

Case file

Charges are selected, informations drafted and disclosure scheduled, then passed to the authorised firm, which instructs counsel. The file is built to be handed to a court, or to an agency, without rework.

04

Proceedings

The authorised firm conducts the prosecution and counsel appears in court; we run the evidence behind it through to verdict, compensation and confiscation — and support the recovery of prosecution costs where the court allows.

04 — Matters

The work, in outline

Illustrative of the matter types on which the firm is instructed. Figures indicate scale only; no specific instruction, client or proceeding is identified.

Invoice & procurement fraud

Prosecution · Crown Court

£14m extracted from a group's purchase ledger over six years. Payment records rebuilt from source, four suspects identified, case file prepared for counsel.

Investment scheme collapse

Investor group · Agency referral

1,100 investor accounts reconciled against promoter bank data to show where subscription monies actually went; evidence package delivered to the investigating agency.

Cryptoasset misappropriation

Parallel criminal & civil

On-chain tracing through forty-plus wallet hops and three exchanges, reported in a form usable in both sets of proceedings and to support freezing relief.

Payroll & expenses fraud

Corporate · Internal then criminal

Nine years of payroll rebuilt for a mid-market employer; report prepared for the board, for insurers, and as the foundation of a charge decision.

Director asset stripping

Creditors & insolvency practitioner

Pre-insolvency transfers traced to connected parties; conduct evidenced for prosecution and for parallel recovery on behalf of the creditor body.

Refer a matter for an initial view within one working day.

Send a short outline of the loss, the documents you hold and the parties involved. Referrals from companies, insolvency practitioners, creditor groups and regulated firms are reviewed by a principal.

01908 103 072

Information you send us is handled in line with our Privacy notice.