Tom Price QC

Barrister

Criminal defence at all levels up to and including significant serious fraud and financial crime, murder, serious sexual offences and serious drug offences.

Tom Price QC has been involved is serious fraud work for many years including banking frauds, Ponzi frauds, film tax credit frauds, boiler room frauds, insurance frauds, long-firm frauds, Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) frauds, advance fee frauds, amongst others, prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office, Revenue and Customs, Crown Prosecution Service, the FCA and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, representing corporate and individual clients.

Leaves no stone unturned in the defence of his clients.Legal 500

He was involved in the series of cases Operation Stockade and Fajita (linked to R v Early and others [2003]1 Cr.App.R.19,CA) and others which ultimately led to the setting up of the Butterfield report which examined practices and procedures relating to disclosure, associated investigation techniques and case management in HM Customs and Excise's criminal cases. His expertise in such cases is unrivalled.

Non-financial crime work includes complex multiple defendant homicide cases, substantial conspiracies concerning the supply of drugs and firearms, serious sexual offences and in private work for trial or sentence, pre-charge or post-conviction including cases which require skilful reputation management.

Tom Price has lectured extensively in Russia and the Russian Federation over the last ten years and has also been involved in the training of Russian lawyers in Moscow, St Petersburg and London. He is the Chairman of Citizens Watch International, a charity set up to improve the training of and general standards of Russian lawyers

Extensive experience in particular in relation issues of disclosure and is a contributor in relation to disclosure in "Abuse of Process" by Colin Wells, Oxford University Press.

Tom has provided external lectures in relation to disclosure, hidden assets, tactical approaches, abuse of process and Deferred Prosecution Agreements.

Former Advocacy Trainer for Inner Temple.

Professional Memberships

Criminal Bar Association
South Eastern Circuit
Proceeds of Crime Lawyers Association (POCLA)
Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers (ARDL)
Fraud Lawyers Association (FLA)
Financial Services Lawyers Association (FSLA)

R v Ditta - Southwark Crown Court. Private prosecution against the defendant alleging a series of thefts and property transfers arising from trade in the mobile phone industry. Case dismissed as an abuse of process.
Operation Lunar - Birmingham Crown Court. This was a multi handed film scheme fraud involving sideways tax relief. The case contained over a million pages and was due to last for 7 months. Case dismissed as a result of legal argument.
R v Mayal - Leeds Crown Court. Multi handed diversion fraud resulting from the import of alcohol from the continent, non payment of vat and the distribution of the alcohol throughout the country. Three month trial.
R v Tanveer - Southwark Crown Court. Two trials arising from the setting up of bogus companies offering investment in non existent or undervalued goods. Classic “boiler room fraud".
R v Ruse - Southwark Crown Court. The defendant was a company director involved in the setting up of and distribution of alcoholic goods throughout the country. Three month trial.
R v Canover Watson - Cayman Islands Court Of Appeal. Appeal arising from the defendants conviction for a series of thefts and dishonesty honest offences amounting to millions of pounds.
R v Hassan - Cayman Islands. Allegation of a series of thefts and dishonesty arising from the use of false identities and accounts from the University of the West Indies in which the defendant was the senior administrator. The case involved allegations of dishonesty against senior government ministers and resulted in Alden McLaughlin, then the Governor of the Cayman Islands, being reprimanded for contempt of court.
Operation Bulkhead - Alleged marketed tax avoidance scheme exploiting the tax relief available in respect f losses incurred in the development and pre production of films. Allegedly £263 million set aside for the development and pre production of films. The Crown claim that the scheme was marketed to high net worth individuals and sophisticated investors.
Operation Carp - Alleged variation of an MTIC fraud. The allegation is that the defendants were involved in the Internet trade in carbon credits which involved the reclaim of VAT amounting to the loss of some £11,000,000 to HMRC. The case is multi jurisdictional.
R v AA & Others (Operation Finetune) - Instructed to represent the main defendant in one of the first cases of Film VAT fraud prosecuted.
R v M & Others - Money laundering fraud arising from the dishonest running of a number of bureau de changes in London. Losses said to be in the sum of £65,000,000. The central allegation was that a number of bureau were set up to launder the proceeds of MTIC fraud and that it was a continuation of a previous fraud that had resulted in a number of convictions previously. In addition there are allegations of the laundering of some £28,000,000 of money through the Libyan Embassy.
R v Straker & Others - 4 directors of various companies were charged with conspiracy to defraud arising from a ‘Land banking' scheme. Operating from premises in the City of London the defendants were alleged to have purchased plots of land which were then split up with the smaller parcels being sold off. The Crown case was that the defendants misrepresented the true value of the land and made representations that planning permission may be granted leading to a steep increase in value
R v H (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.
R v PB (Operation Tangelo) - Multi-handed prosecution, under the Fraud Act 2006, in relation to the criminality of the financial institution UMBS Online Limited and the individuals behind or connected to it.
R v JP (Operation Vaulter) - MTIC fraud, one of 19 defendants, facing counts of cheating the public revenue over a 3 year period of VAT of approximately £20 million.
R v Drewery & Others (Operation Gnawed) - This was a £47,000,000 VAT/Carousel fraud. Listed for three months the case was stayed for abuse of process due to various species of non disclosure by HMRC. Linked to the case of R v Olivier CA [2007] EWCA Crim.3483.
R v Shamba & Others - Leading junior for the first defendant in 13-handed VHCC credit card and benefit fraud.
R v Wragg & Others (Operation Emmersed) - Alleged £55,000,000 VAT (MTIC) fraud with an actual loss of £20,000,000. The trials ran over some fifteen months, there being two trial trials of four months and nine months. The case received widespread national media attention particularly for the size of the confiscation awarded against the main defendant.
R v Lesser & Others - SFO prosecuted trial alleging a “churning” insurance fraud involving approximately £3.5 million. In addition there were allegations of money laundering involving Germany, Monaco and Spain. 6 week trial.
R v Sudaharan & Others - Allegation of identity theft and the creation and use of over one hundred bank accounts together with false loans the fruits of which were filtered through a series of false companies and sent out India. Ten week trial.
R v Sourou & Others - An alleged case of mortgage fraud and associated money laundering. The case related to the bulk purchase of developments in the Thamesmead area of London, the fraud alleged to be in the region of £15,000,000. The trials lasted ten weeks. National coverage.
R v Hutton & Others - An investment fraud in which a company set up in the City of London invited investors from all over Europe to deposit money with them with the promise of high returns. The fraud eventually netted some £12,500.00 involving investors from, in particular Greece, Italy and Germany. National coverage.
Operation Stockade - A £120,000,000 operation by Customs into diversion fraud from Fort Patrick. The convictions were overturned by The Court of Appeal due to issues of disclosure and have led to a review of Customs procedure by Mr Justice Butterfield.
Operation Fajita - A multi million pound investigation by Customs into the activities of London City Bond which ultimately led to the Butterfield Enquiry, in particular Operation Fajita parts 1 and 2, which involved the evasion of £35 million of excise tax on alcohol. Not guilty verdicts entered after lengthy abuse of process arguments.
Operation Kismet - £7,000,000 importation of cannabis from The Czech Republic.
R v Hassan - Multi-handed credit card fraud, the proceeds of which the Crown contended were used to fund Algerian terrorism.
R v Sadiq - One million pound plus pension fraud carried out by magistrate creating seventeen separate identities.
R v Mills & Others - Property fraud based on the South Coast involving three hundred plus properties.

Proceeds of Crime Act

R v Perez & Others - £40,000,000 money laundering operation using Bureau de change around London on behalf of Columbian drug cartels.

R v Smith - CCC. Murder by a young man of his mother as a result of his withdrawal form medication. Verdict manslaughter.
R v Nankani -CCC Attempted murder. Shooting by N of the driver of a car. Revenge attack for the murder of the defendant’s friend at an urban night at the Ministry Of Sound.
R v Doh - CCC. Murder. Attack by two men on a drug supplier in a park in Greenwich. Defendant 16 years of age. The Attack arose out of a dispute in to county lines drug supply.
R v Dixon - Wood Green Crown Court. The defendant was involved in the import of Firearms from Jamaica which were then distributed to gangs in North London. Some of the weapons had been linked to incidents of murder and serious violence. Dixon is now a leading authority on sentencing in firearm cases.
R v Mc Ardle - CCC. Murder. Arson attack as a result of rivalry between two groups supplying drugs in South London. One women killed and two people suffered life changing injuries as a result of the attack. Verdict: manslaughter.
R v Campbell - CCC. Revenge attack by a group of 5 men as a result of an incident in a night club. The victim was beaten to death on a street in Greenwich. Verdict:not guilty.
R v Ferguson - CCC. Murder by a son of his mother as a result of severe paranoia. Verdict: manslaughter.
R v McGuigan - CCC. Manslaughter as a result of defendant having injected his girlfriend with an overdose of heroin. Verdict: not guilty.
R v Bolland and another - Leeds Crown Court. Allegation of conspiracy to murder. Two 15 year olds plotted together to carry out a Columbine shooting attack on their school. Plot foiled by a school colleague.
R v Joyce - Oxford Crown Court. Murder allegation. The defendant struck a relative after a family party resulting in death. Verdict: manslaughter.
R v Jeffers - Court of Appeal Cayman Islands. Appeal as a result of three murders as a result of gang rivalry on the island.
R v Arthur and others - Conspiracy to commit armed robberies involving organised crime and use of “bugging techniques” by police.
R v Snowdon - Rape of woman abducted at the side of motorway. Unusual in that it was the first time cross- examination of a witness had taken place in relation to statements made to identify attacker whilst under hypnosis.
R v Eric Damoa - Serious aggravated burglaries and firearm offences. The case had national coverage as the victim in one case threw herself out of the third floor window of a house.
R v Fenton & Others - The defendant was one of a gang involved in the robbery of security of vans over a period of time. The case involved surveillance and cell site evidence.
R v W - Indictment containing allegations of rape by a daughter against her father spread over five years.
R v Adi Kenyi - Six handed conspiracy to false imprison/rob using firearms and planed abduction.
R v Zhang and Others - Six handed snakehead kidnapping linked to people smuggling.
R v Browning-Jones - Five handed historic sex ring in which a group of men systematically abusing young children.
R v Morrison - The defendant was charged with the murder of his mother. The case involved complex psychiatric and medical issues resulting in a manslaughter conviction. 6 week trial.
R v Damoa & Others - The defendant was charged with various offences arising from a series of aggravated burglaries involving firearms linked to a rival drug gang. The case received national press as a result of a victim in one of the cases throwing herself out of the top floor of the window of a house to escape the attackers. The case involved extensive use of cell site evidence..
R v Pryce & Others - Allegations of drug supply, firearms, blackmail and kidnapping. Having kidnapped the victim his family were blackmailed and the victim taken to an open grave for a staged execution. Described by the judge as one of the worst cases he had seen in forty years on the bench or at the bar. Three week trial.
R v Dallen & Others - Allegation of child abduction involving organised agencies. The case was complicated by abuse of process arguments and cross jurisdictional issues involving the United States, Venezuela and the UK. The case received international attention due to the defendant's position as a supporter of President Clinton and his role as the Editor of a national newspaper in Venezuela.
R v Moore & Others - The defendant was one of a gang of 24 defendants who had been supplying cocaine from Trinidad, Tobago and Grenada into the UK over a period of years. There had originally been a trial involving 22 of the defendants; this defendant and another were extradited after convictions in relation to the other defendants. The trial lasted some ten weeks and involved issues relating to extradition, abuse of process and procedures relating to Trinidad and Tobago.
R v Clementson & Others - The defendant was said to be part of a gang distributing cocaine and cannabis from a premises in Brixton. The case involved probe evidence spanning some seven months and the distribution and supply of drugs throughout England. The trial lasted ten weeks.