Economic Crime and the Global Financial Crisis

Jonathan Fisher

Looking through the prism of three paradigm cases which emerged during the course of the global financial crisis, the writers discuss whether the parameters of criminal law are sufficiently wide to capture the conduct of financial markets participants who have acted recklessly, not caring whether or not they cause financial loss to others and turning a blind eye to this outcome in circumstances where the risk is real and not fanciful. In order for the criminal law to be more effective, the writers suggest that the regulatory authorities need to impose stricter obligations requiring greater disclosure of conflicts of interests and methodologies for determining the valuation of underlying investments.

Law and Financial Markets Review, Vol. 5, No. 4, Jul 2011: 276-289.

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