Pinsent Masons appoints new Head of Tax Fraud Investigations in London

Andrew will join the multi-disciplinary team from the Fraud Investigation Service at HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) where he has led their Offshore Corporate and Wealthy enforcement division since its inception in 2016.

He brings vast legal and operational experience in significant fraud and civil tax compliance investigations in the UK and internationally. A former Case Controller at the Serious Fraud Office, and a seconded expert to the judicial cooperation unit at the Council of the EU, he has most recently focused on tackling suspected tax fraud and related non-compliance involving large companies.

Notably, Andrew has led and developed HMRC's operational approach to the "failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion" offences under the Criminal Finances Act 2017, and, as the UK operational lead for the recently established J5 Global Tax Enforcement collaboration; he has a rare appreciation of current trans-national enforcement considerations.

Jason Collins, Head of the Litigation, Regulatory & Tax team at Pinsent Masons, commented: "I am delighted that Andrew will be joining our growing multidisciplinary practice. Andrew has a wealth of knowledge across tax and civil fraud matters and, in raising awareness about the Criminal Finances Act, has worked with a broad spectrum of organisations, both in the UK and internationally, akin to our cross-sectoral client base.

"Andrew’s background and expertise means that he will bring with him a unique and highly relevant perspective that will enable us to grow our client offering across both preventative and defence work in each of our five key global sectors. He will work closely with our tax, forensic accounting and civil fraud teams, giving us a powerful and compelling market proposition.

"Andrew has a brilliant and engaging way of speaking about his work and we are looking forward to introducing him to clients who seek support on how best to mitigate the risk of non-compliance under the Criminal Finances Act. The Act has now had a 2-year gestation period and with HMRC indicating that a number of investigations have been launched across a range of commercial sectors, it is a critical time."