DPP Latest News: Conrad Black, new KPMG findings and Stuart Pearson

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 30th, 2011 at 6:48 pm

Conrad Black, the media tycoon convicted of corporate fraud and obstructing justice, will find out today if he must return to jail in the US to serve some or all of the remaining four years of his prison term, the Independent reports.

Black lost his media empire when outside investors accused him of running a ?corporate kleptocracy? and of profiting at shareholders’ expense. Although a previous US Supreme Court ruling voided two of his three fraud convictions, it did not overturn the conviction for obstructing justice.

New research from KPMG has revealed that fifty per cent of corporate fraud in the UK is committed by senior management and those with Board roles, reports the Banking Times.

The research also highlighted the fact that management review led to the detection of only 22% of UK frauds covered in the survey, with whistleblower reports and anonymous tip-offs accounting for a further 34%.

KPMG suggests that ?red flag? warnings, such as employees who rarely take holidays or who lead an excessive lifestyle, are frequently missed by firms, particularly since the onset of the credit crisis.

In a notable serious fraud case, the former chief executive of the £357m company Langbar International, Stuart Pearson, has been sentenced to 12 months in jail and banned from being a company director for five years, the Guardian reports.

Langbar International collapsed six years ago, leaving shareholders with losses of millions of pounds; after they were led to believe that the company had assets held by Banco do Brasil. Pearson was recently convicted on three counts of misleading investors and the Serious Fraud Office said he was guilty of ?fraud on a grand scale?.