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Kennedy Talbot KC

1984 | Silk 2016 | NEW YORK 1993

Kennedy Talbot KC’s practice areas are Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 civil recovery, bank account forfeiture, money laundering advisory and reporting, criminal confiscation, restraint and enforcement, government and police investigations and civil fraud, tracing and proprietary claims. He regularly advises businesses and financial institutions on money laundering obligations, particularly in M&A and arising out of the overseas cannabis market. He has appeared in 10 cases in the Supreme Court or House of Lords since 2000.

He is a joint author of Confiscation and the Proceeds of Crime (Sweet and Maxwell 3rd Ed. looseleaf), Administrative Court: Practice and Procedure (Sweet and Maxwell, 2006) and a contributing editor of The White Book.

Kennedy is the Chairman of the Proceeds of Crime Lawyers’ Association and has regularly lectured at home and abroad for (amongst others) the United Nations, IMF, and the Council of Europe.

Practice Areas in Detail

““.. is the ultimate POCA expert. He always gets to the core of the issue no matter how complex the question.” “He is very reactive, very pragmatic and someone who really understands this area of law.”“

“"He is very responsive and pragmatic. He is also exceptionally knowledgeable on the law and has confidence in a field where people want confidence because of the risks." "He has excellent judgement and strong advocacy skills. He is very intellectual in his approach."“

“He really has no equal in terms of his breadth of knowledge and experience in the area”

”He’s an exceptional lawyer who gets the right result. He’s absolutely first-class.”

”..described by some as “Mr POCA””

Chambers & Partners

“He has an unrivaled expertise but most importantly, remains commercial and able of explaining difficult legal concepts in a meaningful way that clients can understand.”

“He has become the go-to barrister for AML issues.“

“Kennedy has a brilliant, brilliant mind and fantastic drafting skills.” 

“He is extremely knowledgeable and one of the longest-established practitioners in this area, so he really knows his stuff.” 

“One of the foremost experts in confiscation and restraint law, he is extremely erudite and very good with clients.” 

“extremely impressive”

“just fabulous”

Chambers & Partners and Legal 500

Civil recovery and forfeiture.

Currently instructed in multiple PoCA/Criminal Finances Act 2017 bank account freezing or forfeiture applications. Previous cases include: Fresh View Swift Properties [2023] EWHC 605 (Admin) (forfeiture of unlicensed money service business proceeds); NCA v Persons Unknown and Barclays Bank (2022), 25 November (Business and Property Court, acting for bank in recovery of £51m); 2022 £12m confidential settlement; Campbell [2017] Lloyds Rep FC 598 (Court of Appeal - forfeiture); Coghlan [2017] EWHC 570 (QB) (High Court committal arising out of civil recovery); Namli [2014] EWCA Civ 411 ($7m Turkish bank civil recovery action); Davison and George (2013 £8m civil recovery settlement); the Balfour Beatty settlement; and Olden [2010] CP Rep 10 (Court of Appeal civil recovery). He also advised the UN on the development of its Model Civil Forfeiture Law.

Kennedy is an editor of the White Book and the author of the civil recovery and unexplained wealth order section (White Book, V2, section 3-K).

Money laundering advisory.

Currently: acting for several investors and financial institutions in different matters concerning money laundering obligations, particularly M&A and/or arising out of the cannabis market in Canada; and acting for Spotlight on Corruption in its Court of Appeal intervention in World Uygur Congress v NCA [2023] EWHC 88 (Admin). Advised businesses, financial institutions and professionals on making reports to the NCA in 5 separate matters during 2022/2023 (including one of the largest UK fund managers). Appeared on behalf of the successful appellant in the leading Supreme Court laundering appeal, GH [2015] 1 WLR 2126 (when fraud proceeds paid into a bank account become criminal property for the purposes of a POCA s.328 laundering arrangement). Investigated and reported in 2020 to a foreign regulator in respect of the anti-money laundering policies and conduct of an offshore jurisdiction bank.

PoCA Confiscation (particularly regulatory).

Currently: representing the SFO in asset preservation litigation arising out of the collapse of London Capital and Finance (see eg [2021] EWHC 2803 (Comm)); acting for the SFO in £70m civil proprietary proceedings in the Business and Property Court (Gerald Smith); representing private prosecutors in several sets of restraint and confiscation proceedings (including Taktouk [2020] EWCA Crim 1325 and Tierney [2022] EWCA Crim 1042 (both interlocutory contempt proceedings)).

In the last 3 years (2020-2023) Kennedy has acted in numerous confiscation and restraint proceedings including the following reported cases: Miller [2023] 4 WLR 6 (Court of Appeal – corporate legal personality); Luckhurst [2022] 1 WLR 3818 (Supreme Court – legal expenses in civil proceedings); Asplin [2022] Crim LR 9 (Court of Appeal - confiscation of pensions); Green and Ryder [2021] Env LR 6 (Court of Appeal – confiscation in environment cases); Luckhurst [2020] EWCA Crim 1579 (Court of Appeal – legal and living expenses guideline case); and Re S [2020] 1 WLR 109 (Court of Appeal - pre-charge restraint guideline case). 

Has been recommended in the POCA sections of Legal 500 and Chambers UK every year that the sections have been published.

Government and police Investigations.

Currently acting in a number of sensitive investigations including Covid related fraud and billion pound illegal gambling. Previous notable cases include: Operation Weeting (News of the World phone hacking); cash for honours; the Berlusconi investigation; the Madoff investigation; recovery by the Egyptian government of Mubarak looted funds; and corruption investigation into former Law Society president.

Civil fraud and tracing.

­Currently: leading for the SFO in the Orb/ Gerald Smith £70m Commercial Court proceedings involving 27 parties, BVI and Jersey liquidators and High Court receivers to recover the proceeds of breach of trust and fraudulently obtained property (see various interlocutory judgments - [2019] EWHC 2598 (Comm), [2020] EWHC 1280 (Comm), [2020] EWHC 2079 (Comm), [2022] EWHC 3052 (Comm) and [2022] 7 WLUK 544); and acting for the Attorney General for Trinidad and Tobago in the Nelson litigation.

Also acted in civil action against betting company for recovery of gambled fraud proceeds (Dhir v Flutter Entertainment [2021] EWHC EWHC 151 (QB)). Previously acted for stockbrokers in Bilta v Deutsche Bank and SVS (Commercial Court breach of trust proceedings).

Previous Years (2016-2019) Appellate and High Court Cases

Moss [2019] 1 WLR 6033 (Court of Appeal – cross border EU enforcement) 

Ibori and others [2018] 17th October (Court of Appeal – abuse of process and £90m corruption)

Jarvis [2018] EWHC 4024 (Admin) (High Court – receivership enforcement in Spain)

Somaia [2017] EWCA Crim 741 (Court of Appeal - private prosecutor confiscation powers)

Campbell [2017] Lloyds Rep FC 598 (Civil Court of Appeal judicial review in cash forfeiture proceedings)

Adams v CPS [2017] 1 WLR 3732 (Civil Court of Appeal - certificate of inadequacy)

Gheewala [2017] EWHC 2554 (QB) – (High Court trial on recovery of gifts from third party in private prosecution)

Coghlan v Bailey [2017] EWHC 570 (QB) (High Court application to commit NCA officer for contempt in civil recovery proceedings)

Re G [2017] Lloyds Rep FC 73 (Court of Appeal reduction of client’s benefit in confiscation proceedings)

Palmer [2017] 4 WLR 15 (Court of Appeal confiscation for regulatory offences)

Powell [2016] Lloyds Rep FC 546 (Court of Appeal confiscation for environment offences)