Case study
Successful acquittal in a white collar case
The Client
Our client, the CFO of the Polish branch of a multinational corporation, faced serious accusations of misappropriating nearly PLN 5 million, for which he faced up to 10 years in prison.
Specialisation:
The challenge
The allegations centred on unauthorized withdrawals from the company’s bank accounts, executed using credentials accessible to our client and others. Unknown perpetrators made unauthorized transfers to the account of a financial mule, who subsequently withdrew the money and transferred it to his accomplices. During the investigation, a man implicated our client by alleging his presence at meetings of the criminal group, providing substantial grounds for indictment. The prosecution further bolstered its case with a bank statement asserting no security breach, as the perpetrators had authentic login credentials.
The Result
We successfully challenged the credibility of the main witness who incriminated our client.
We obtained a private expert opinion challenging the bank’s position. It revealed flaws in digital data security measures, showing the transfers were most likely made by someone who had not previously used the company’s e-banking system, casting doubt on the effectiveness of security features.
Nearly 80 witnesses testified during the trial. Our goal was to prove that the perpetrators knew our client’s credentials and were able to use them, while the CFO himself was not in fact involved in the fraud.
We proved that several event scenarios were equally likely in the case, and the investigation did not reveal how the transfers instructions were made.
As a result, we obtained a verdict acquitting our client.
