Anna Littler

Civil fraud and asset recovery

Anna has particular experience of cases involving allegations of fraud and asset preservation/disclosure (including relating to offshore trusts structures). She is recognised in The Legal 500 as a leading junior in the fields of Commercial Chancery and Offshore.

She often acts on high value, document-heavy cases with international elements involving significant disclosure exercises and related interim applications.

Anna has particular experience, both acting as junior to leading counsel and as sole counsel, in obtaining and resisting various forms of interim relief, including:

• Norwich Pharmacal/third party disclosure orders
• Freezing and ancillary disclosure orders
• Search orders (including against third parties)
• Summary judgment/strike out applications
• Committal proceedings brought on the basis of allegations of contempt of court
• Challenges to jurisdiction

She has extensive experience in acting in large-scale and long running commercial fraud cases, including acting for the claimant bank in the high profile Ablyazov litigation: multi-billion dollar claims in the Chancery Division and Commercial Court by a Kazakh bank against its former chairman for misappropriation of funds, involving multiple freezing, search and ancillary orders.

She has recently acted for the liquidators of the Weavering Macro Fixed Income Fund Limited in their claim in the Grand Court in Cayman against the former auditors of a Cayman hedge fund which collapsed in 2009 following a major fraud by its founder.

She is currently acting for one of the defendants in the Libyan Investment Authority v JP Morgan and ors litigation – claims brought by the sovereign wealth fund alleging corruption in relation to transactions that it entered into during the era of the Gaddafi regime in Libya.

Further examples of her recent civil fraud work include:

• acting as sole counsel for a technology company in its claim against its former finance officer for the fraudulent misappropriation of funds. Anna successfully obtained freezing and disclosure orders against the defendant and the case settled before trial
• acting as sole counsel for an individual defrauded through a bogus wine investment scheme and successfully obtaining freezing and disclosure orders
• acting in committal proceedings brought on the basis of allegations of contempt of court for failing to comply with an order for disclosure of information/assets
• acting to resist the appointment of a receiver in proceedings in which freezing relief had been granted
• acting as sole counsel in a claim by a shareholder alleging deceit in relation to their investment in a private company
• acting for a defendant to a fraud claim in challenging the jurisdiction of the English court

Download Civil fraud and asset recovery CV

Company law

Anna undertakes a wide range of contentious company and insolvency work including:

• bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings (including jurisdictional and service issues)
• shareholder disputes (including s.994 petitions and just and equitable winding up petitions)
• actions against directors for breach of duty by companies/liquidators
• antecedent transactions
• wrongful/fraudulent trading

Her recent work includes:

• acting for the liquidators of a Caymanian hedge fund in their claim against its former auditors
• acting for the liquidators of an English company in their claims relating to antecedent transactions and wrongful trading against the company’s former directors
• acting for the former director of a company defending claims brought against him by the liquidators for alleged breach of his duties as director
• acting as sole counsel for a minority shareholder pursuing a claim under s.994 of the Companies Act 2006 for unfair prejudice in which it is alleged that the business and assets of the company have been unfairly diverted/transferred out of the company by the majority shareholders/directors
• acting as sole counsel for shareholders in a deadlocked company seeking s.994 relief/just and equitable winding up
• acting as sole counsel for the liquidators of a company pursuing an action against its former directors in relation to an alleged fraud perpetrated against a third party through the company

She is also a contributor to the 2018 addition of Kerr & Hunter, Receivers and Administrators (Sweet & Maxwell).

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International / offshore

Anna is recognised in The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a leading junior in Offshore work.

A significant amount of Anna’s practice involves litigation in offshore jurisdictions, including in Bermuda, the Caribbean, Isle of Man, Gibraltar and Channel Islands.

She is currently acting in the high value X Trusts litigation in the Bermudian courts (led by Brian Green KC), involving issues of both company and trusts law.

She has recently acted in the Grand Court of Cayman in a claim brought by the liquidators of the Weavering Macro Fixed Income Fund, a Cayman hedge fund which collapsed due to the multi-million dollar fraud of its founder, Magnus Peterson, against the fund’s auditors.

She also acted in the largest case ever to have been litigated in the Isle of Man, Altimo Holdings v Kyrgyz Mobil Tel Ltd, a case involving allegations of fraudulent misappropriation in relation to a Kyrgyz telecoms operator and the corruption of foreign judiciary.

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Insolvency

Anna undertakes a wide range of contentious company and insolvency work including:

• bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings (including jurisdictional and service issues)
• shareholder disputes (including s.994 petitions and just and equitable winding up petitions)
• actions against directors for breach of duty by companies/liquidators
• antecedent transactions
• wrongful/fraudulent trading

Her recent work includes:

• acting for the liquidators of a Caymanian hedge fund in their claim against its former auditors
• acting for the liquidators of an English company in their claims relating to antecedent transactions and wrongful trading against the company’s former directors
• acting for the former director of a company defending claims brought against him by the liquidators for alleged breach of his duties as director
• acting as sole counsel for a minority shareholder pursuing a claim under s.994 of the Companies Act 2006 for unfair prejudice in which it is alleged that the business and assets of the company have been unfairly diverted/transferred out of the company by the majority shareholders/directors
• acting as sole counsel for shareholders in a deadlocked company seeking s.994 relief/just and equitable winding up
• acting as sole counsel for the liquidators of a company pursuing an action against its former directors in relation to an alleged fraud perpetrated against a third party through the company

She is also a contributor to the 2018 addition of Kerr & Hunter, Receivers and Administrators (Sweet & Maxwell).

Download Insolvency CV

Trusts, probate and estates: contentious

A substantial element of Anna’s current practice is offshore trusts work. She is recommended as a leading junior for offshore work in Legal 500 and has experience in long running cases in a number of jurisdictions, from Bermuda and the Caribbean to the Isle of Man.

Her recent trusts work has included acting in:

• an application for removal of trustees of an offshore trust
• Public Trustee v Cooper applications for court blessing in highly contentious circumstances
• trust administration proceedings seeking a range of directions and other relief
• trust disclosure proceedings
• Beddoe applications

Her recent cases include acting with Brian Green KC in Bermuda in the X Trusts litigation, relating to a very high value discretionary trust and in a cross-jurisdictional dispute regarding a multi-billion dollar offshore trust.

Anna often acts in highly contested and complex multi-jurisdiction claims, frequently with elements of dishonesty and/or asset recovery and involving injunctive relief and other urgent Court applications. In this context, Anna has significant experience in dealing with complex offshore asset holding structures and finds that her fraud and insolvency work often ties in well with her offshore trust work.

Download Trusts, probate and estates: contentious CV