Osman Osman

Barrister

Osman Osman is a specialist defence advocate practising in all types of criminal cases including major organised crime. He is regularly instructed in the largest and most complex cases.

Highly experienced in cases involving serious fraud and financial regulation both pre and post charge across a broad spectrum including HMRC conspiracies to defraud, VAT evasion and MTIC and trading standards matters.

Osman advises both individuals and companies regularly in cases of concerning quasi criminal/regulatory allegations. Compliance expertise includes the Bribery Act and specifically on co-insurance contracts, third party and brokerage contracts. Osman has unrivalled expertise in defending in complex Town and Country Planning Act (TCPA) licence and HMO cases and of challenging the related POCA proceedings.

Osman is regularly instructed in complex confiscation matters including asset recovery , including on behalf of third parties and including the new freezing account order provisions.

His practice includes numerous murder trials and major National Crime Agency operations. He is adept in the cross-examination of vulnerable witnesses and to appear in sensitive cases involving young complainants. He has frequently conducted contested confiscation hearings under both the Criminal Justice Act / Drug Trafficking Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Osman advises and appears in appellate proceedings both in the Administrative Court and in the Appeal Courts. Judicial Review proceedings have included successful challenges relating to custody time limit applications.

Ranked as a Leader in Crime and Fraud in the Legal 500 and as a Leading Criminal Junior in Chambers UK.

Associated Work

Osman has lectured upon numerous topics particularly related to fraud and financial regulatory topics.
Lectures on the use of forensic evidence in homicide and sexual offences.
Visiting lecturer at the Barts & London School of Medicine & Dentistry.
Advocacy Trainer and assessor at Inner Temple and at the School of Advanced Legal Studies.

Professional Memberships

Criminal Bar Association (CBA)
Fraud Lawyers Association (FLA)
Proceeds of Crime Lawyers Association (POCLA)
Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers (ARDL)
Member of the Gibraltar Bar
British Association for Sport and Law (BASL)

Fraud and Financial Regulation

(Operation Incubus) – One of the largest HMRC investigations into evasion of VAT. International conspiracy which amounted to over £50m in the evasion of duty via complex network involving 15 defendants. Representing the director of a North-West England logistics company. This was one of the largest and most complex cases of its kind.
R v VR - Representing a principal in a complex conspiracy to forge and conspiracy to possess with intent false identification documents.
R v SA & Others – Large scale conspiracy to launder the proceeds of crime. concerning a sophisticated matrix via pensions by way of banking fraud acquired key bank information through illegal third parties.
R v IN & Others – Complex banking fraud by mis-representation, as well as, making and using articles as part of a conspiracy to commit.
Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency v TP , High value Conspiracy to defraud. Relating to the provision of false MOT’s via a MOT Test Centre. over 10,000 pages of evidence over £100,000
(Operation Valley) - Currently instructed for the principal in a complex fraud based in Gibraltar.
(Operation Rouble) - Large scale money laundering operation which was connected to two other major investigations.
(Operation Bangor) - The largest investigation into banking deception within the UK when over £20million was stolen by the use of stolen cheque account books which were intercepted through a North London postal sorting depot.
(Operation Intermediate) - The largest counterfeiting case to have come before a court in this jurisdiction concerning the alleged production of over £11 million of forged sterling & euro bank notes.
R v Patricia Pimenta & Others - A conspiracy to defraud by engaging and assisting in sham marriages to non-EU nationals. This was one of the largest sham marriage conspiracies to have come before the court.
R v Abdul Kazi-Quyyum - Large scale banking fraud involving a bank employee.
R v Sofia Mcmorran & Others - Trading standards prosecution on large scale EBay fraud.
R v Taraskus & Others - Lithuanian kidnap and extortion syndicate- involved in kidnapping gang masters.

Reported Cases

R v Pimenta [2012] EWCA - Has become an important authority following on from Petherick – relating to the Court’s approach to the sentencing of sole carers of children.
R v Valentine [2006] EWCA Crim 2717 - Leading authority on the finding of hidden assets in confiscation proceedings.

Homicide and Serious Violence

R v R - High profile cold case review murder from 1982 concerning the murder of the defendants former partner. Concerning key areas of DNA and forensic evidence.
R v D - A married non-English speaking Turkish woman who was alleged to have doused her lover in petrol whilst he slept - the case was of national interest in Turkey and raised a great deal of public interest.
R v G - High profile triple murder by arson. Defendant was extradited from Europe.
R v Kirk - Attempted murder, when a fishing harpoon was fired into the head of a young victim, photos of which were on the front pages of the national press.
[Operation Corfu] Attempted murder, related to an ongoing feud between two families. culminated with the victim being run over by two vehicles, and then chased and stabbed numerous times.

Terrorism

R v Abdulla Ahmed Ali and Others (Operation Overt) - Trans-Atlantic airline liquid bomb conspiracy. Instructed to represent Savant who was subjected to three trials which included two re-trials.

Drugs and Organised Crime

R v DF & Others – Importation 10’s of kilos of drugs into the UK by using a converted helicopter, which would land at exclusive hotels in England. The smuggling operation was worth over £7m with over 50 kilos of cocaine being brought into the UK upon every flight.
[Operation Yena] leading junior in a complex case involving a year’s conspiracy of armed robberies targeting 13 banks in the South London area. resulting in the theft of £100,000s.
Operation Petrel represented the principal in national drugs conspiracy concerning the largest drugs conspiracy in the North of England, the evidence in the case ran to over 100,000 pages. Representing a director of a well known North East refuse recycling company.
Operation Krakatoa - Instructed as lead counsel in a complex conspiracy regarding the management of illegal brothels and money laundering.
R v Austin Stanbury & Others - Leading counsel representing principal defendant in a multi handed conspiracy to supply class A drugs and money laundering which involved the use of female drugs mules.
R v Prenga & Marku - High profile case representing the owner and director of one of the country’s largest security firms who was alleged to have been the principal in a major drugs conspiracy involving Britain’s strongest man
R v Leah & Others - Defending the principal in one of the largest cannabis cultivation cases to ever come before the court. It involved the setting up of four industrial scale cultivation and harvesting unit. State of the art hydroponic systems with advanced electricity abstraction techniques were deployed. Conspiracy involved large scale money laundering and other major drug traffickers.
R v Soylu & Others - The importation of over £5million worth of heroin into UK through a European net-work.
R v Vallentine - The largest illegal pharmaceutical drug production enterprise in Europe - the case formed the basis of Channel Four Despatches programme.
R v Gonzalez & Others - Large scale importation of cocaine by a Colombian/Spanish syndicate
R v Gun & Others (Operation Blue Sky) - Pan-European facilitation of illegal immigrants which is alleged to have involved the movement & entry of over 100,000 individuals into the UK; the largest known facilitation case. Involving intercept evidence from 3 European countries.

Reported Cases

R v Pimenta [2012] EWCA - Has become an important authority following on from Petherick – relating to the Court’s approach to the sentencing of sole carers of children.
R v Abdulla Ahmed Ali & Others [2011 EWCA Crim 1260] - Leading authority in respect of autrefois convict, autrefois acquit, second re-trial, abuse of process in the light of media prejudice and conspiracies plots and sub plots.
R v Mohammed Ali - Appeal against conviction on a murder, jury bias, disclosure, incompetence of counsel.
R v Bourgass & Others [2007] 2Cr App R S 40 - Leading authority on sentence in respect of public nuisance connected to the Ricin terror plot.t of public nuisance connected to the Ricin terror plot.

Osman has an expertise practice defending in complex Town and Country Planning Act (TCPA) licence and HMO cases..
London Borough of Newham v Questor - failure to obtain TCPA licence and failure to secure HMO. PCA objected to successfully.
London Borough of Barnet v Questor - £450k contested confiscation in respect of failure to obtain a licence and failed HMO.
London Borough of Barking & Dagenham v John Renvoize - unlawful subletting, breach of TCPA, breach of environmental regulations and ancillary PCA.

Financial Regulation

Re: AXA insurance PLC - Osman was nominated as sole external counsel to AXA Insurance PLC. Advising on Bribery Act compliance in respect of insurance, co-insurance agreements in brokerage.

Trading Standards v WISAB & Others - conspiracy to defraud by way of applying dishonestly consumer contract regulations.