Ruth Paley

Ruth is a Partner in Eversheds Sutherland’s Corporate Crime and Investigations team. She is an expert in all aspects of financial crime including fraud, economic crime and money laundering, with a focus on specialist advice to corporates on compliance with the UK AML regime. She is known as “one of the leading names in anti-money laundering work in London, with a depth of knowledge few in the City have” [Legal 500] and 'a powerhouse performer in global corporate investigations'.

Ruth has extensive experience in both criminal and regulatory investigations and enforcement, frequently leading on large AML advisory projects including:

• acting as the lead criminal lawyer for a UK PLC company and its MLRO under investigation for money laundering offences under POCA,
• representing one of India's largest banks in a ground-breaking cross-border FCA criminal investigation into allegations of money laundering and AML systems and controls failings,
• advising a well-known financial institution on an investigation into significant fraud and corruption on the part of one of its partners, impacting its client base and creating complex AML reporting obligations,
• advising several overseas banks under investigation by the FCA into various allegations including money laundering and AML systems and controls failings
• acting for a global trading platform client in FCA and City of London Police investigations,
• leading the investigation team in a multi-jurisdictional investigation for a global energy sector firm into corrupt activities of employees in MENA and the UK.

She is a Skilled Person for the purposes of the FCA’s financial crime Skilled Person panel, and regularly acts in a lead/advisory capacity on financial crime s.166 Skilled Person Reviews. Ruth wrote the main chapter on Money Laundering Regulation and SARs in the last edition of the leading anti-bribery practitioner text, Lissack and Horlick's on Bribery. She provides financial crime training to financial institution clients, including at board level. She is a prolific writer on the topic of AML and is regularly quoted in the national and trade press including the Financial Times, The Times, Lexis Nexis and Global Investigations Review.

Prior to joining Eversheds in 2016, Ruth spent twelve years as a courtroom advocate at the London Bar conducting heavyweight fraud and financial crime defence jury trials.