Johanna Walsh

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Johanna Walsh is a Partner in the White Collar Crime & Investigations Group. She has experience in domestic and international serious fraud, corruption and money laundering cases, acting for senior individuals in prosecutions brought by the Serious Fraud Office, Financial Conduct Authority and Crown Prosecution Service. Johanna has also acted for a range of corporates, from SMEs to FTSE 100 companies in relation to allegations of fraud and corruption, conducting internal investigations and representing them in external investigations and prosecutions. She has experience in negotiating deferred prosecution agreements and civil recovery orders.

Johanna is experienced in advising in connection with proceeds of crime investigations, particularly those brought by the National Crime Agency. She represented the Respondents to three Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) obtained by the NCA in what was the first successful challenge to UWOs since their introduction in 2018.

Johanna is named in Legal 500 in 2018 and 2019 for Regulatory Investigations and Corporate Crime which notes that she is "an outstanding lawyer and investigator who stands in the front rank of her profession." She is named as a leading individual in Investigations and in Business Crime Defence (for both Corporates and Individuals) in the 2020 edition of Who's Who Legal. She was also recognised in the 2017 edition of 40 Under 40 by the Global Investigations Review, recognising accomplished young investigations lawyers who will help shape the future of this fast-evolving area of law.

Key Experience

Acting for the Respondents to three Unexplained Wealth Orders in the first successful application to discharge such Orders
Acting for Tesco Plc in an SFO investigation into accounting irregularities
Advising a gambling operator in respect of its compliance with anti-money laundering and social responsibility controls in its retail and digital businesses, including conducting a critical review of these controls and reporting to the company and the Gambling Commission
Acting for a company subject to a section 7 Bribery Act investigation in respect of failure to prevent bribes being paid to domestic public officials
Advising a company in respect of questionable payments made to agents in Russia and the Middle East, including making disclosures to the SFO and DOJ
Acting for a multi-national company under investigation by the SFO for global bribery and corruption offences
Acting for Johnson & Johnson in relation to an SFO investigation into legacy corruption involving DePuy International Ltd
Assisting in a corporate internal investigation arising out of an SFO investigation into suspected facilitation payments in the shipping industry
Defending Andy Coulson in relation to allegations of conspiracy to intercept telecommunications and conspiracy to corrupt public officials whilst Editor of the News of the World
Defending the Group Financial Accountant of Torex plc who was prosecuted by the SFO for conspiracy to defraud and false accounting following the collapse of Torex
Representing a former director of compliance facing prosecution by the SFO for bribery and corruption
Representing a senior trader under investigation by the FCA and CFTC for alleged manipulation of Libor