On 18 January 2018, David Stern secured the acquittal of Jodie Drayan, at the time a Harrods sales assistant, at Isleworth Crown Court, on eight counts of fraud by abuse of position, involving multiple transactions using cloned credit cards.
The case highlighted flaws in Harrods’ internal procedures and its approach to disclosure, whilst at the same time showing the dangers of over-reliance by the police on the robustness of commercial investigations.
An absence of staff training on fraud prevention combined with an inherently weak payment gateway authorisation system meant that staff were unwittingly used by customers to obtain luxury goods and gift cards.
The acquittals were obtained as a result of much hard work by both solicitors, Byrne & Partners, and counsel.
David’s practice focuses on corporate regulation, business crime and serious fraud with a particular emphasis on financial services and insurance. David is Joint Head of the Regulation and Business Crime Practice Group at 5 St Andrew’s Hill.
David is ranked in Chambers & Partners as a band 3 leader in the field of Financial Crime (London). David is ranked in the Legal 500 as a band 3 leading individual for Business and Regulatory Crime (including Global investigations) (London).
