- London 020 7067 1500
- Email clerks@25bedfordrow.com
Geoffrey Payne
Geoff Payne specialises in defending in high value, heavy fraud cases.
He is nothing short of fantastic: a very meticulous operator, he is amazingly hard-working and very good in his written work. Chambers UK
He defends clients in lengthy trials, often of up to six months in duration and involving allegations of fraud of up to hundreds of millions of pounds.
Many involve associated civil and/or regulatory proceedings.
Geoff Payne acts as leading counsel and as a junior alone.
He has experience of every type of serious fraud. He has appeared in cases of alleged banking frauds in the City of London, ‘Ponzi’ frauds (including the largest prosecuted in the UK), film tax credit frauds, boiler room frauds, insurance frauds, long-firm frauds, Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) frauds, ‘sideways loss relief’ frauds, advance fee frauds, dishonest contra-trading and frauds in the construction sector.
He has appeared in cases prosecuted by every major prosecuting agency including the Serious Fraud Office, Revenue and Customs, Crown Prosecution Service and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
He has represented City traders, accountants and insolvency practitioners.
He has successfully dealt with a large number of confiscation cases and has a particular expertise in appearing for interested parties in confiscation and enforcement proceedings both in the Crown Court and High Court.
He has advised in relation to cases involving multiple jurisdictions and regularly appears in the Court of Appeal.
He has also acted for defendants accused of corruption and misconduct in public office in areas such as the police and the Ministry of Defence.
Geoff Payne’s practice also encompasses cases of heavy crime, such as those involving allegations of murder and high value drugs importations.
Appointments
- Recorder (crime - 2018, serious sexual offences - 2019, civil - 2020).
- Legally Qualified Chair of Medical Practitioners Tribunal, hearing cases brought by the General Medical Council about the fitness to practice of doctors.
- Legally Qualified Chair (part-time) of Police Misconduct Tribunals held under the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2012.
Associated Work & Articles
- Blog author for UK Finance, LexisNexis and Practical law (see for example, https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/check-your-privilege/ and https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/will-internal-investigations-stay-internal/)
- Former elected Member of the Bar Council
- Member of the Bar Council Remuneration Committee
- Member of the National Association of Legally Qualified Chairs in Police Discipline.
Professional Memberships
- Former Treasurer and later Chair of the Young Fraud Lawyers Association
- Criminal Bar Association
- Proceeds of Crime Lawyers Association (POCLA)
- Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers (ARDL)
- Fraud Lawyers Association (FLA)
- Financial Services Lawyers Association (FSLA)
Education
- 1994-1997, St Edmund Hall, Oxford, Modern History
- 1999-2000, City University, London, Common Professional Examination in Law
- 2000-2001, Inns of Court School of Law, London, Bar Vocational Course