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David Hamilton is a white-collar and regulatory lawyer with significant experience advising on bribery, fraud, money laundering, and market manipulation matters. He has a particular specialism in financial services enforcement and compliance.
David has nearly 15 years' experience representing individuals and corporates in the context of internal investigations and actions brought by domestic and international regulatory and law enforcement bodies including the FCA, SFO, HMRC, the police, the European Commission, and US Department of Justice.
Notably, he has acted on the FCA's high-profile investigations into LIBOR and FX manipulation, representing individuals suspected of market misconduct and senior managers investigated for governance and oversight failings.
David has advised in the context of regulatory enforcement actions involving insider dealing in debt and equity markets, anti-competitive behaviour in relation to IPOs and share placings, and consumer redress schemes following the mis-selling of financial products to over two million customers. He has also acted for individuals and companies investigated by HMRC for tax offences, in particular securing the discontinuance of a four-year multinational VAT fraud investigation into an ultra-high-net-worth individual.
Alongside his investigations practice, David has significant experience advising clients on financial crime and regulatory compliance systems and controls. He has worked across a broad range of sectors, including financial services, real estate, energy, infrastructure and retail to implement appropriate risk-based preventive procedures. These include risk assessments, third party due diligence and screening, governance and oversight frameworks. David has particular expertise in the application of the Money Laundering Regulations, having advised a substantial number of clients on their compliance programmes, registration and ongoing engagement with supervisory authorities.
David also supports clients with remediation exercises where breaches are identified, advising on regulatory reporting obligations and internal and external stakeholder management.
David is a former officer of the International Bar Association's Anti-Corruption Committee.
- Representing key witnesses in an FCA criminal prosecution relating to alleged market manipulation and fraudulent trading.
- Represented a senior banking executive in the context of a multinational money laundering investigation.
- Acted for a portfolio manager in the context of an FCA investigation into anti-competitive behaviour in relation to IPOs and placings. This was the first case the FCA used its concurrent competition powers.
- Advised a multinational distribution and outsourcing group in the context of a criminal investigation into a substantial procurement fraud.
- Conducted a substantial internal investigation for a global construction company defrauded of over £3 m by senior staff and contractors.
- Advised a substantial number of estate and letting agency and trust and company service businesses in the context of AML registration and compliance breaches, successfully securing no further action by HMRC.
- Advised a global construction company in relation to its AML controls, conducting a comprehensive compliance remediation exercise.
- Advised a series of financial institutions on their financial crime controls, supporting the design and implementation of change programmes and associated regulatory reporting obligations.
David is a keen pipe organist and has played at Westminster Abbey. He is also passionate about cars and collects hand-built scale models.
