Instructing David O’Mahony
For more information please contact our clerks by calling +44 (0)20 7242 3555.
David O’Mahony specialises in cases in which international issues arise.
He has particular experience in offshore issues and is the head of the Offshore and International team in Chambers.
His practice has ranged across this field of the law being instructed in cases involving money laundering and criminal fraud, civil and commercial law (particularly fraud), arbitration (both commercial and investment arbitration), domestic and international financial regulation and international crime. He advises on public and private international law and international criminal law.
He has deep knowledge of the law of bribery and corruption. He has acted for and against companies as well as individuals in corruption cases. He has also acted in parallel civil and criminal proceedings. He has acted for a number of developing world governments in corruption investigations and negotiated a settlement agreement with one of the world’s largest companies. In 2020 he acted for Jersey in negotiating a landmark $ 300 million asset sharing agreement with the United States and Nigeria.
David also advises on sanctions related issues (including in an offshore context). He has advised on a number of the sanctions regimes including in relation to Russia/Ukraine, North Africa and Iran. He has advised on historic sanctions issues. He has acted on both the government and corporate side of sanctions issues.
In the field of International Criminal Law, he was instructed in a major, in country, crimes against humanity investigation and wrote the major report on both fact and law.
David has been instructed in cases in the UK, Africa, the Caribbean, Central Asia, all the Crown Dependencies, the Gulf, the Indian sub – continent, Hong Kong and South East Asia. He has been called to the bar in Australia, the DIFC courts and the TCI. He is on the list of counsel at the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the Hague, and has acted successfully for the UK government in the European Court of Human Rights. He has appeared as junior counsel in commission hearings in the Indian courts and in the Privy Council. He is on the Serious Fraud Office ‘A’ Panel for Proceeds of Crime Act cases.
He has worked with Swiss investigating magistrates and the USDOJ as well as public authorities in the developing world.
He has given talks for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan and was instructed by the UNDP to assist in its review of the draft Criminal Procedure Act for Sierra Leone.
David has degrees from Cambridge University and the University of Queensland (Australia), and tutored Public Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science (‘LSE’). He attended the Hague Academy of International Law Advanced Course in International Criminal Law and the European University Institute Human Rights Law summer school.
Landmark case on the territorial reach of the power to freeze assets in aid of foreign criminal and civil proceedings.
Decision of the Jersey Court of Appeal on the status of a requesting State in mutual legal assistance proceedings and application for permission to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Decision of the Jersey Court of Appeal on Article 1 Protocol 1 of the European Convention in confiscation proceedings
Decision of the Jersey Court of Appeal on whether there is power to prevent a mortgagee assigning its mortgage and power of sale over frozen property and application for permission to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Royal Court of Jersey upheld a US$ 23 million freezing order on behalf of the USDOJ and gave important guidance on the interaction between offshore trust and company structures and criminal orders.
Acting for the United States of America and the Attorney General for Jersey in parallel proceedings to enforce a US$ 300 million corruption forfeiture order and other relief.
Acting for Viscount of Jersey in the Jersey Court of Appeal concerning whether she has duties akin to those of a trustee.
Jersey trust proceedings concerning a €990 million fund.
Acted successfully for the UK government in the ECtHR in US$43 million corruption money laundering case.
Case in which the Court of Appeal gave guidance on the meaning of a ‘vexatious request’ in the FOI Act.
Acted for the Finance Minister of Jersey in a £100 million claim for inducing breach of contract.
Instructed to deal with the international issues - this was the first case to be prosecuted under section 4 Suppression of Terrorism Act 1978.
Acting for the defendants in a US$ 14 million claim in the Turks and Caicos Islands courts to recover the proceeds of corruption.
Advising a listed mining company in relation to its Mongolian subsidiaries.
Acting for the Attorney General for Jersey in a series of international corruption money Laundering cases including: Attorney General v Bhojwani [2009] JCA 115A (in the Jersey Royal Court, Court of Appeal and Privy Council).
Acting for the National Accountability Bureau of Pakistan (‘NAB’) in a series of civil and criminal corruption cases including ‘Bhutto’.
Acting for the Kenyan Anti-Corruption Commission (‘KACC’) in a series of corruption cases. Acting for a hedge fund manager in a dispute over the US$ 97 million proceeds of a hedge fund: UCC v Bender [2006] JLR 269.
Instructing David O’Mahony
For more information please contact our clerks by calling +44 (0)20 7242 3555.
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