Investigations are ongoing involving several UK financial firms, the SFO has indicated.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) suggested today that it was looking into several potential cases of City fraud similar to the ongoing Bernard Madoff and Sir Allen Stanford scandals.
In an interview with the Independent newspaper today, SFO director Richard Alderman said that the body was currently pursuing several different potential frauds. He suggested that Ponzi schemes - where money from recent investors into a fund is used to pay older investors - could be uncovered by the probes.
Alleged fraud cases have hit the headlines recently, involving US hedge fund manager Bernard Madoff and Antigua-based billionaire Sir Allen Stanford. In the former case, celebrities, asset management firms and even large banks were revealed to have had exposure to the Ponzi-style investments - with US regulators suggesting that a £33 billion fraud had been perpetrated.
Mr Alderman said: "Some of [the alleged frauds] are ones where we have been asked to look at something that has gone on, and we are conducting a preliminary investigation.
"With others we are digging deeper. Some of it we have identified it ourselves. At least one [case] comes from a whistleblower. We are talking about quite large-scale fraud as a result of the credit crunch."
