London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 17, 2025

UK fraud office launches review after judge says director fell for flattery

UK fraud office launches review after judge says director fell for flattery

The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said on Monday it would launch a review after its head was rebuked by a London judge for being vulnerable to flattery from a freelance agent during a high-profile bribery investigation into oil consultancy Unaoil.
Judge Martin Beddoe said SFO head Lisa Osofsky and senior colleagues had “taken the bait” when an American agent acting for the prominent Ahsani family, which ran Unaoil, had promised to secure guilty pleas in the British investigation into other Unaoil managers.

The SFO should have had “nothing to do” with David Tinsley, who was not the lawyer of a defendant, or employed by a U.S. government agency, but was a “freelance agent who was patently acting only in the interests of the Ahsanis”, he said.

“DT (David Tinsley) was not hesitant in flattering Ms Osofsky and talking up her talents, and unfortunately Ms Osofsky made herself vulnerable to them,” Beddoe said.

The SFO said it accepted the criticisms and that a review was in hand, but stressed that the judge had found no evidence of bad faith or unlawful behaviour.

“A review will be conducted into this matter, and a protocol covering contact with non-legal representatives has been put in place,” it added.

The judgment was made public on Monday after reporting restrictions were lifted on the convictions of two former Unaoil managers, Ziad Akle and Stephen Whiteley, after a London trial.

Tinsley established contact with Osofsky and other senior SFO staff around September 2018, saying he wanted to mend a frayed relationship between the SFO and FBI and “build something great”, according to the judgment, after a bruising court battle in Italy in 2018 over who would prosecute Saman Ahsani.

Saman, Unaoil’s former chief operating officer, and his brother Cyrus, the company’s former chief executive, pleaded guilty in the United States last year.

On Feb. 4, 2019, Tinsley sent an article to Osofsky, a dual national British American and former FBI lawyer, with the message “mercy means valuing relationships over rules”. Osofsky responded that the message was “inspiring”, according to the judgment.

Beddoe said he was not sure what the expression meant and cautioned that he had not seen the full communications.

“...but if it is an invitation or excuse not to apply the rule of law before the application of mercy, I doubt that it has proper application to the work of the SFO,” he said.

Tinsley, a retired U.S. drug enforcement (DEA) supervisory special agent who founded Miami-based investigative company 5 Stones Intelligences, said his comments had been taken out of context by Akle’s lawyers.

They had been designed to show how moved he had been by Osofsky’s “extraordinary kindness” to an SFO officer facing a challenging personal period, he said, adding that to suggest otherwise was “shameless”.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
×