今天我们要讨论的topic是一些Financial crimes，也就是我们常说的经济犯罪。下面高顿财经小编就分别一一来看这些在你未来的职业生涯中可能会遇见的经济性犯罪。
1.Fraudulent trading
欺诈性交易，违反了公司法（The Companies Act 2006）和破产请算法（the Insolvency Act 1986），该罪名可以是刑事犯罪（criminal offence），也可以是民事犯罪（civil offence）。
Fraudulent trading:this criminal offence occurs under the Companies Act 2006 where a company has traded with intent to defraud creditors or for any fraudulent purpose.
Also a civil offence of the same name under section 213 of the insolvency Act 1986 but it only applies to companies which are in liquidation.
公司董事故意对债权人进行欺诈，抱着根本不想还的意图大肆向债权人借款，这触犯了公司法的相关规定，最高可面临10年的有期徒刑（imprisonment），同时公司可能还要面临巨额罚款（fine）。
公司破产清算也是欺诈性交易的高发地，明知公司资不抵债不行了快破产了，利用信息不对称，还在向债权人大肆借款，使债权人血本无归。这种情况下，经营者或参与经营者（any persons who were knowingly parties to carrying on the business）有义务归还债权人的欠款。
在现实中，很难证明这个罪名的成立，因为很难证明经营者自己到底知不知道公司快破产了，很多情况经营者明明知道但却借口不知道，为了保护债权人的正当利益，因此又引入了一个民法犯罪的罪名——不正当交易（Wrongful trading）。
Remember that Fraudulent trading can be a criminal offence or civil offence,while wrongful trading is a civil matter.
2.Wrongful trading
不正当交易是民法罪名，民法的目的是补偿而不是惩罚，所以如果公司董事被证明犯了不正当交易罪只需要补偿受损失的债权人即可，不用坐牢（the director will have to make such contribution to the company’s assets as the court sees fit）。
要证明公司董事犯了不正当交易罪需要满足如下条件：
A．公司董事已经，或应该知道，公司正常来说已经没有啥前途了，进入资不抵债破产程序已经不可避免（no reasonable prospect that the company could have avoided going into insolvent liquidation）,这个结论是由其他正常水准的公司董事得出的，用法律上的高大上的话来说是a reasonably diligent person with the general knowledge,skill and experience that might reasonably be expected of a person carrying out that particular director’s duties。
B．公司董事没有采取足够的步骤（sufficient steps）来减少债权人的潜在损失（potential loss）。
3.Bribery
Bribery：a serious offence which often relates to the offering and receiving of gifts or hospitality。
Bribery,贿赂罪，包括行贿和受贿，违反了反贿赂法（the Bribery Act 2010）,罪名主要有四个，前三个是针对个人（individual），最后一个是针对公司（corporate）;
1.Bribing another person
2.Being bribed
3.Bribing a foreign public official
4.Corporate failure to prevent bribery
贿赂罪有两个例外，情报组织（intelligence service）和军事武装（armed force）不受贿赂罪的起诉，所以像007这种不管是贿赂人还是被贿赂，都是无罪的。但其他人如果犯了贿赂罪最高可判十年监禁，或外加上不封顶的罚款（unlimited fine），如果是公司犯了贿赂罪，同样可能面临天文数字的罚款（unlimited fine），同时公司还要遭受名誉上打击（loss of reputation），公司的董事还有可能面临补偿性质民事指控，倾家荡产将是大概率事件。
4.Money laundering
就是传说中的洗钱罪，Money laundering is the process by which the proceeds of crime,which have illegitimate origins,are converted into assets that appear to be legitimate，简单说就是把非法收入通过种种手段伪装成合法收入，掩盖其资金的来源。
洗钱的操作手法（money laundering process）一般有三个步骤：
1.Placement–the disposal of the proceeds of crime into an apparently legitimate business property or activity;转移或布局，把黑钱转化到合法的物质和经济活动上，这是最初始的资金处置，这个阶段黑钱还是能够很容易查到的，所以需要下一步分层；
2.Layering–the transfer of money from place to place,in order to conceal its criminal origins;分层，就是具体洗的过程了，形象的比喻是，通过一层层的过滤把黑钱中黑色（非法）的部分滤掉，分层得越多过滤得越干净，最后变成合法的资金。过滤，就是各种交易，各种倒来倒去，有点厉害的洗钱组织把资金在全球范围内流转，极大增加了追查的难度。
3.Integration–the culmination of placement and layering,giving the money the appearance of being from a legitimate source。最后一步是整合，多次重复前两个步骤后，最后把洗干净的钱通过合法的经济活动回到自己手上。
根据the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002，洗钱会导致3种犯罪：
A.Laundering–being the offences of concealing,disguising,converting,transferring,or removing criminal property from the UK。具体参与洗钱，最高判14年监禁或外加罚款。
B.Failure to report–it is an offence for someone who knows or suspects that another person is engaged in money laundering not to report that fact to the appropriate authority(National Crime Agency).知情不报，这个罪名就和我们的会计师行业大大的有关系了，最高可判5年监禁或外加罚款。
C．Tipping off–it is an offence to make a disclosure likely to prejudice a money laundering offence already being undertaken,or which may be undertaken。通风报信罪，最高可判2年监禁或外加罚款。
5.Insider dealing
内幕交易罪，主要在成文法the Criminal Justice Act 1993(CJA)中有所规定。
Insider dealing is dealing in securities while in possession of inside information as an insider,the securities being price–affected by the information.
为了更好的理解这个罪名，我们先来看几个定义:
1.Insider–anyone who is in receipt of‘inside information’,including:
Directors,employees,or shareholders
Anyone else who has access to inside information via their office or profession(e.g.auditors)
Anyone who gains information from any of the above
内部人，那些有机会有手段可以接触到内部信息的人。
2.Inside Information–information that is price sensitive,being:
Related to specific securities
Is specific or precise
Has not been made public
Is likely to have a significant effect on the price of the securities
内部信息，那些跟某个证券有关的特定的准确的还没有公开的，一旦公开会明显影响证券价格的敏感信息。
3.Dealing–the defendant either:
Was an insider who dealt using inside information in price-affected securities
Encouraged others to deal
Disclosed the inside information to anyone else
交易，可以包括用内幕信息自己买卖特定证券，或怂恿他人买卖，或直接泄露内幕信息给那人。
内幕交易罪一旦成立，最高可判7年监禁或外加上不封顶的罚金。但内幕交易罪也有下列几条（包括但不仅限于此）抗辩理由：
1.Market makers acting in good faith
2.The defendant did not expect the dealing to result in profit,or the avoidance of a loss
3.The defendant reasonably believed the information was publicly available
4.The defendant would have dealt anyway,even if they did not have the information
因此在实际中，法院并不容易以该罪名定罪，为了解决这个“the perceived ineffectiveness of the inside dealing provisions”，于是又引入了新的民法罪名“market abuse”。
Remember that insider dealing is a criminal offence,market abuse is a civil matter.
6.Market abuse
Market abuse relates to * which amounts to abuse of a person's position regarding the stock market.市场滥用罪，主要是有关证券市场的。
高顿小编提醒，我们判断一个人是否滥用（abuse），就是观察一个人在他所处的职位在与市场有关的行为上是否是标准的合理的被期望的行为（observe the standard of * reasonably expected of a person in their position in relation to the market）。
具体来说，滥用市场一般与下列行为有关（所举例子包括但不限于）：
发布了一个具有误导性或者欺骗性的报告，recklessly making a statement or forecast that is misleading,false or deceptive；
Engaging in a misleading course of conduct for the purpose of inducing another person to exercise or refrain from exercising rights in relation to investments.简单说，就是误导投资者。
总结（recap）：
Test yourself：recall Syllabus you have learnt in this topic
▎本文作者高顿财经ACCA研究中心F4教研组，来源高顿。原创文章，欢迎分享，转载请注明来源高顿。