Former Met police detective sues ex-City lawyer over ENRC hacking claims
A former Metropolitan police officer has accused an ex-City lawyer of trying to hack his emails to steal information about Kazakh mining company ENRC.
Former detective Cameron Findlay has claimed ex-Dechert partner Neil Gerrard orchestrated a campaign of ‘spear-phishing’ attacks against him during a court dispute surrounding the Kazakh firm, US court papers show.
A High Court Judge ruled in May last year that Gerrard leaked information about ENRC to Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the UK’s national press when he was carrying out an internal investigation at ENRC while he was Dechert’s head of white-collar crime.
The SFO is currently investigating the firm over allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption around the acquisition of substantial mineral assets.
Findlay alleges that Gerrard launched a campaign to hack his emails to work out what evidence he had on the leaking allegations, the former detective’s North Carolina lawsuit shows.
The ex-policeman claims Gerrard’s phishing campaign was intended to intimidate him into withdrawing statements he submitted to a London court against the ex-lawyer in the case surrounding ENRC.
Former Met police officer Findlay previously “worked closely” with Gerrard over a two-year period from April 2011 to March 2013, while they were both employed by ENRC.
Findlay, a former Met police detective who later started a consultancy specialising in corporate investigations, was hired by ENRC as a consultant.
ENRC later fired Gerrard in March 2013, alleging he leaked the company’s confidential information in a bid to increase maximise his fees by expanding the scope of his work.
The mining company later sued Gerrard and Dechert over the leaking allegations, in a case that saw the top City law firm forced to pay out £20m to ENRC last May.
In making its claims against Gerrard, ENRC relied on witness statements from Findlay, who claims he was instructed by the ex-City lawyer to leak the company’s information.
Findlay says he was later sent more than 90 phishing emails from hackers falsely claiming to be employees of the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), his own wife, and Britain’s former justice secretary David Gauke MP.
The ex-detective’s US lawsuit also claims his house was “covertly surveyed” by “individual operatives,” including one who appeared to be filming his home.
Findlay is now suing Gerrard and Dechert for damages in claiming he was plunged into depression by Gerrard’s campaign against him and later forced to step away from his job.
Lawyers acting on behalf of Gerrard were approached by City PM for comment.