George Carter-Stephenson QC

Head of Chambers

Specialist defence advocate with a varied and wide ranging practice extending over all types of criminal cases and disciplinary proceedings.

An absolute workhorse who is superb at pretty much everything he does.Chambers UK

Extremely experienced in dealing with highly involved and complex cases, including all areas of commercial, corporate and financial crime, incorporating SFO and FCA prosecutions and high value confiscation, asset recovery and restraint proceedings.

High profile crime work includes, providing pre charge advice on the whole range of criminal charges including lesser offences and offering full representation in the most serious matters concerning homicide, terrorism and the highest level of organised crime.

Professional Disciplinary and Regulatory work includes representing both individual and corporate respondents and high value VAT Tribunal work.

Ranked in Band 1 in Fraud (Crime), Business and Regulatory including Global Investigations and Crime in the Legal 500 2020 and in Band 1 for Financial Crime in Chambers UK 2020.

George Carter Stephenson QC is said to be one of the most outstanding members of the criminal bar, recent testimonials include the following:

"His mastery of detail is phenomenal. He brings decades’ worth of experience in defending the most serious allegations in the criminal calendar — he has seen pretty much everything there is to see, and yet retains a natural enthusiasm for his cases that makes him a formidable operator in court." Legal 500 Crime 2022
"George has a wide knowledge of all regulatory issues to which he applies his outstanding tactical awareness. He provides solutions, not problems." Legal 500 Business and Regulatory Crime
"George is an absolute giant in fraud work, with a devastatingly effective talent for cross-examination and for standing up to judges where necessary. He works prodigiously hard and can spot details that others miss. A class act." Legal 500 Fraud Crime 2022
“The finest advocate in London at the moment." Chambers UK
"Is singled out for his ‘excellent’ command of paperwork and ‘unrivalled’ dedication." Chambers UK
"Combines a down-to-earth manner with a ‘street-fighting’ approach." Legal 500
"Nobody works harder: his knowledge of the papers and of the detail of every case is magnificent and plain for all to see." Legal 500
"Patient and kind with clients, who find his serenity and deep knowledge immensely reassuring." Legal 500

Professional Memberships

Criminal Bar Association
Fraud Lawyers Association (FLA)
Proceeds of Crime Lawyers Association (POCLA)
Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers (ARDL)
Member of the South Eastern Circuit
Member of the European Criminal Bar Association

Associated Work

Head of the Fraud and Financial Litigation Group at 25 Bedford Row
Regularly lectures on Financial Crime topics and immerging law and procedure
Panel Chair and panel members at the Cambridge International Crime Symposium 2015-2019

Operation Treacle - Alleged £10 Million-pound fraud concerning the re-sale of thousands of tickets for gigs and events.
R v RH - Representing former solicitor charged with conspiracy to conceal criminal property contrary to section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 between 2003 and 2010. High profile case representing a highly ranked solicitor at Burges Salmon in Bristol, charged in connection with a probe into business loans of up to £35m made through a high street bank, Halifax Bank of Scotland.
R v Dartnell & Others - Conspiracy to commit fraud by false misrepresentation x2 and conspiracy to give corrupt payments contrary to section 1 of the Criminal Law Act.
Operation Amazon - Representing one of the principal defendants in a category 1 VHCC complex tax and carbon credit fraud.
R v F & Others - Complex layering allegations of money laundering contrary to section 328 of the Proceeds of Crime Act.
R v SB & Others - Financial services and Markets Act 2000 case in relation to the share sales. A false impression of the share values offered to those who were purchasing, boiler room type case.
LIBOR - (LBR2) Representing the principal defendant in the first LIBOR prosecution. This case attracted major media attention in the financial press and has had a major effect on the banking and financial institutions worldwide. The case involvedthe alleged dishonest manipulation and abuse of the London Inter Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) between the 1^st January 2001 and the 31^st December 2010.
R v K (Operation Felbella) - SFO prosecution concerning the fraudulent obtaining of commercial mortgages to the value of £850 million pounds.
Operation Slick - £30 million "boiler room" allegation prosecuted on behalf of the FSA by the Fraud Prosecution Service. High pressure telephones sales techniques to the public over various jurisdictions, alleged activity over a number of years, representing principal defendant.
Operation Barber - Highly complex trading standards investigation, representing one of the main defendants, a professional accountant and insolvency practitioner, in a twelve-handed alleged long firm fraud as well Companies act offences and regulatory/trading standards offences which is said to have taken place over seven years and caused losses in excess of £4.5 million.
Operation Digits - Instructed in a VAT fraud concerning the construction industry. Massive payroll fraud where VAT was being charged for cash in hand work forces,
Operation Exhort - Linked mortgage and insurance fraud.
Operation Vaulter - MTIC fraud, approx £20 million
Operation Euripus - Highly significant MTIC fraud with the largest ever losses to HM Revenue & Customs, currently estimated at £250 million with money being siphoned off to various countries including the UAE, Hong Kong and Pakistan. Extremely complex money laundering operation associated with the fraud.
Operation Duma - An unusual MTIC fraud where many of the deals involved are between family owned and operated companies with losses to HM Revenue & Customs estimated at £45 million.
R v PU - Complex investigation by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, representing two defendants on a fifteen-count indictment of fraud , trading standards and directorship disqualification offences.
R v W - FSA prosecution - serious shares fraud estimated at £28 million.
R v Pigott (Operation Campaign) - £40 million MTIC Fraud utilising the Hexagon, the Hong Kong developed computerised banking system, with funds being distributed to Dubai, Malta and Asia.
R v Baillie (Operation Shepherd) - MTIC Fraud. £60 million.
R v Woolley (Operation Dunaway) - An MTIC fraud involving the evasion of £38 million of VAT
R v Lynch (Jockey’s Case) - Allegations of fixing horse races involving the jockeys F Lynch, Kieron Fallon and D Williams. Case stopped on submission of no case to answer.
R v De Laurey - Husband of Joyti de Laurey ,husband of the Goldman Sachs secretary found accused of stealing £4.5 million from her bosses.
R v Maruszak - High Yield Investment Programme fraud of £16 million.
R v Ellis & Others - Professional money laundering business involved in £18 million loss.
R v Pigott - Confiscation
R v Woolley - Confiscation
R v Richards - Charity Fraud “Friends of Yours” which purported to collect money on behalf of special care baby units by way of donations but only a minute proportion of collected monies was ever sent to the special care baby units.
R v Gwyn Jones (Operation Emersed) - MTIC Fraud. Six defendants including a former telecom company director charged with involvement in a £40 million carousel fraud. Widely reported in the national press. This trial began in 2005 with multiple linked cases still on-going. A scheduled BBC Panorama programme halted the trial while proposed injunctive proceedings to discharge the Jury were considered by Judges and defence counsel.

Money Laundering

R v Ellis & Others - Professional money laundering converting the cash proceeds of crime into foreign currencies for transmission abroad. Virtually all the MTIC carousel frauds have involved money laundering charges.
Operation Euripus - Highly significant MTIC fraud with the largest ever losses to HMRC. Currently estimated at £250m with money being siphoned off to various countries including UAE, Hong Kong and Pakistan. Extremely complex money laundering operation associated with this fraud.
Operation Vaulter - Money laundering - UK companies via Tanzania.
Operation Campaign - Use of Hong Kong 'hexagon' banking system of worldwide distribution of fraudulent profits (Dubai, Asia, Malta).
Operation Dunaway - Money laundering via Spain, Switzerland and Hong Kong.
Operation Emersed - Money laundering - routing money via Hong Kong & Dubai companies.
Operation Shepherd - Money laundering aspects involving the placing of fraudulent profits in an off-shore employee benefit scheme trust.
Operation Duma - Money laundering via UK and Dubai companies. The investment of fraudulent profits into property in Dubai.
Operation Ventford - Multi million £ identity fraud. Money laundering in countries including Spain, Monaco & the Cayman Islands.

R v Arthur Collins & Another - Client convicted of seriously injuring more than a dozen people after spraying acid on to a packed dancefloor in a London nightclub.
R v Ward & Another - Representing principle defendant in murder in a public house.
R v Williams & Others - Murder. Stabbing in broad daylight on a busy London street.
R v Mohammed - High profile murder concerning rival gangs in a turf war.
R v JW - Multiple counts including murder of a child, distribution of indecent photographs, sexual exploitation and child abuse
R v IF & Others - Multi-handed high profile Central Criminal Court Murder Trial in which the victim died of a fatal stab wound, following being chased by a group of young men who said the deceased had tried to steal a car of a rival gang.
Operation Cent - The alleged manufacture and sale of substance (including explosives, drugs and cash) detection devices which it is alleged do not detect as claimed.
R v JG & Others - Appeal against conviction, high profile multi handed murder case involving a shooting, said to have culminated from warfare between well-known South East London rival gangs.
R v John Terry - (Chelsea and England Captain) charged with racially aggravated harassment.
Criminal Cases Review Commission - Carl Morgan - (Member of the So Solid Crew) challenging the murder conviction on the basis of the unsatisfactory nature of the evidence based on police corruption and anonymity in the light of the House of Lords ruling R v Davies -[2008] UKHL 36 (on appeal from: [2006] EWCA Crim 1155).
R v Jermey - Murder of partner by strangulation, pouring petrol on her, setting the house on fire and then calling 999.
R v M & Others - The extremely high profile murder of former heavyweight boxing champion James Oyebola who was shot and killed in a Fulham nightclub following a request to customers to refrain from smoking. A case with considerable media interest.
R v K & Another - the husband and wife murder trial alleging the killing of a neighbour in a garden in Mitcham, South London, who was attacked with a cutlass, a golf club and a snooker cue following an argument over a child's football.
Damilola Taylor - First murder trial no further evidence offered against defendant after legal argument.
R -v- Vincent & Others - Megaman gang death - trial one & trial three defended So Solid Crew founder member, Megaman, on a charge of murder.
R v Camberwell Green Youth Court ex parte D and G (House of Lords) - A precedent case establishing that a young defendant's right under Article 6 of the Human Rights Act is not automatically infringed by evidence being on video and via video link.
R v Mulcahy - Multiple murder and 13 rapes (partner of the infamous “Railway Rapist” John Duffy).
R v Adams & Others - The Millennium Dome Robbery attempt to steal the 203 carat 'Millennium Star Diamond' from the Millennium Dome.
R v Jethoo Samurai Sword murder- manslaughter after causing the death of the victim in Waltham Cross town centre.
R v Shingadia - (Arsenic Poisoner), involved the systematic poisoning of girlfriend by arsenic.
R v Whyte - A fire bomb attack of a rival gang's house which resulted in two deaths.
R v Franklin - The execution style murder in a scrap yard followed by the killing of the victim's friend who witnessed the attack.
R v Hanson - A mugging which escalated to a fatal stabbing.
R v Nelson - A playground fight which resulted in fatal stabbing.
R v Hasan - Killing of QPR youth squad player, schoolboy Kyan Prince. Trial 1 & 2.
R v O’Boyle - Ex IRA member hired to assassinate London gang boss.
R v Hourigan - Series of cases involving armed robberies. Defendant acquitted.
R v Baldry - Drugs supply case in which the first case was aborted due to material non disclosure. Prosecution then offered no evidence and a substantial wasted costs order was made against the CPS.
R v Kubilay - Series of multi-million pound heroin importations.
R v Yildrim - Multi million pound heroin importation.

Terrorism

R v R & Others - The 'dirty bomb case'. The UK’s largest ever terrorist plot involving plans to cause large explosions on tubes under the river, flooding the tube network and plans to blow up stretch limousines in underground car parks of key financial buildings.
R v I & Others - Defendant alleged to be a 'failed suicide bomber' from 21st July 2005. The first ever prosecution of failed suicide bombers.
R v A & Others - Prosecution offered no evidence in the 'Ricin 2 terror' case. Alleged Muslim fundamentalist plot to poison an infinite amount of innocent civilians.

Human Rights

R v Camberwell Green Youth Court ex parte DG (House of Lords) - A precedent case establishing that a young defendants right under the Human Rights Act is not automatically infringed by evidence being on video & via video link. George Carter-Stephenson QC co-defended with the current Director of Public Prosecution, Keir Starmer QC.
K - Substantial legal arguments following threats to kill the defendant for the hearing of his evidence in the absence of the public & the press. There were also bad character applications in relation to the defrauded financial institution.
Criminal Cases Review Commission - Carl Morgan - Infringement of human rights in relation to manipulation & police corruption on the witness.
R v I & Others - Involved legal arguments concerning the interrogation and detention of the suspect at Paddington Green police station and the initial denial of access to a solicitor. This case also involved equality of arms issues in respect of the defence ability to obtain expert evidence in relation to explosives.

VAT and Duties Tribunal Work

ML v HMRC - First Tier Tribunal - £2million pound claim for input tax refused on the basis the appellant was involved in MTIC fraud.
Transervices Ltd v HMRC - First Tier Tribunal. Claim for input tax refused on the basis appellants activities were facilitating MTiC fraud. The case involved complex chains of purchases and copious amounts of FCIB material that HMRC relied upon to show circularity of money.
RE: X - Currently retained to advice in a major HMRC tax avoidance matter.

Financial Regulatory Work

RE: FX - Providing pre interview advice in conjunction with US attorneys to a foreign exchange trader who is under investigation for his role in the FX rate rigging scandal.
Re: P & P - Advising on VAT evasion and money laundering value (£500,000), concerning false documentation, failing to properly remunerate workers contrary to the National Minimum Wages Act 1998.
RE: Newland UK LTD - Long running SFO investigation in the company activities of Newland UK. Specifically concerning pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline’s commercial practices after foreign bribery claims with Chinese counterpart, and the alleged interference with a paralel Chinese led investigation into the international company.
Re: XX Holdings - Advising pre charge in relation to fraudulent evasion of duty enquiry for multi million-pound company.
HMRC v O LTD - Advising and drafting skeleton arguments in support of application to set aside an asset freezing order, significant sums involved and impact on companies future.
Re: BW - Asset freezing and fortfeiture. Ongoing matter, advising and drafting in support of application to set aside freezing order.
Re: B LTD - Advised company and director in relation to failing to file company accounts and consequent action taken by Companies House.
Re: GLH - Administrative Court procedural challenges to search warrant. Continuing to advise company in respect of ongoing VAT investigation.

Professional Disciplinary

FA v John Terry - Disciplinary proceedings brought by the Football Association relating to alleged racial abuse.
“Redgrave” - The infamous case which featured in the Graeme McLagan book “Bent Coppers” involving a four year police inquiry and ultimately disciplinary charges arising from the corruption of a CPS employee to obtain confidential documents whilst under suspension.