John Binns

John advises corporate and individual clients on business crime and corporate regulatory matters, including bribery, controlled drugs, extradition, fraud, Interpol red notices, sanctions, tax evasion, and terrorist financing. He has particular expertise on issues under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA), including confiscation, civil recovery, Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs), and on the operation of the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs).

His recent work includes advising numerous corporate clients, including a major British multinational group, on cannabis licensing issues, and on the implications under POCA of UK investments in overseas lawful cannabis businesses. He has represented individual and corporate suspects in major criminal investigations by HMRC, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and National Trading Standards.

John has also advised a variety of companies and professional firms on issues including: their obligations to prevent bribery and the facilitation of tax evasion, to comply with the MLRs, and to submit SARs; their exposure to UWOs and to liability under POCA and sanctions laws; and the extent of their duty to cooperate with international and domestic POCA investigations.

Fellow practitioners say John has ‘a very cerebral approach’ and is ‘absolutely first rate’; ‘superbly analytical, right down in the detail, and a very nice guy to work with’; ‘absolutely fantastic… brilliant at advising clients… very calm and measured’; ‘approachable [and] very thorough’; and ‘a very strong POCA solicitor, who has a lot of experience [and] gives excellent, high-end advice for crime matters.’

John has presented at the Cambridge Symposium on Economic Crime, Cannabis Europa, the Proceeds of Crime Lawyers’ Association’s forum, the Red Lion Lectures, and webinars for Lexis Nexis, and gave expert evidence to the House of Lords’ EU Home Affairs Subcommittee.

Qualified in 2000, joined BCL in 2010 and became a partner in 2017.

Anti-Money Laundering Professionals Forum; Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers; Defence Extradition Lawyers Forum; Fraud Lawyers Association; the Law Society; Proceeds of Crime Lawyers Association (committee member); Tax Investigations Practitioners Group.

Contributor to Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Review (Law Business Research) and Money Laundering Law and Regulation: a Practical Guide (Oxford University Press).

Author of various articles on economic crime topics for Analytical Cannabis, City AM, Fraud Intelligence, Law 360, Lexis Nexis, Money Laundering Bulletin, Open Access Government, Property Journal.