First FCA court case dealt lifeline as costs cut

A fraud case brought by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was dealt a lifeline by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) after it 'declassified' the high cost case to attract barristers who initially refused to represent the defendants on recently reduced fees.

The LAA downgraded the £4.5m fraud trial from 'very high cost case' to a 'graduated fee matter', hoping to get on board barristers who refused to accept the 30% pay cut on very high cost cases introduced by the government in December, according to a report in a legal industry paper. The boiler room case, R v Crawley & Others, which is the first prosecution to be brought by the FCA, involves eight defendants who were charged with with conspiracy to defraud and carrying out a regulated activity without authorisation, in April last year. The charges were brought following FCA investigati...