Leonora Sagan > Fountain Court Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile
Fountain Court Chambers Offices
FOUNTAIN COURT, TEMPLE
LONDON
EC4Y 9DH
England
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Leonora Sagan
Position
Commercial litigation; fraud-civil; business and regulatory crime; financial services regulation; arbitration.
Leonora is a specialist in complex fraud across the civil and criminal legal spectrums, with a wealth of expertise in cases involving allegations of corruption, bribery, and asset misappropriation. She has extensive experience in business, financial, and regulatory crime matters, and regularly appears in and advises on both civil and criminal proceedings brought by the SFO and the FCA.
Leonora frequently acts for high-net-worth individuals, with her client list including members of the royalty, former premiers, top executives, and most recently the key individual in the 1MDB fraud.
Recent case highlights include the FCA’s prosecution of three former executives of Redcentric Plc, which represented the first ever prosecution for the offence of making misleading offences to the market under s.89 Financial Services Act 2012. Leonora acted for the company’s former CEO who was unanimously acquitted on all counts. She represents the Man Group in Public Institution for Social Security of Kuwait v Man Group concerning allegations of large-scale bribery She is currently advising on several sanctions cases, two of which are due to be heard in the Commercial Court in 2022-2023.
A significant part of Leonora’s practice is her representation of professionals accused of serious misconduct. In Tonstate v Wojakovski [2021] EWHC 1122 (Ch) she acted for the successful respondent solicitors against allegations of contempt of court and breaching a Worldwide Freezing Order in failing to disclose the source of third-party funds received on behalf of a client who was subject to the WFO. Leonora succeeded in recovering 100% costs on the indemnity basis on behalf of her client. Other examples include successfully representing a Big Four accounting firm in internal disciplinary hearings concerning bribery allegations, and resisting a Norwich Pharmacal application on behalf of a foreign legal representative. Relatedly, Leonora is often called upon to advise on matters concerning document use and misuse, disclosure, and privilege.
She is appointed to the the SFO’s panel of external counsel and is a contributor to Lissack and Horlick on Bribery (3rd Edn.), co-authoring the chapter on the “adequate procedures” defence to the offence of failing to prevent bribery under s. of the Bribery Act 2010.
Career
2012 Call, Inner Temple
2016-2019: Kobre & Kim LLP (New York and London).
Languages
Greek (fluent), Spanish (conversational).
Memberships
COMBAR, Young Fraud Lawyers’ Association.
Education
Harvard Law School, LLM; Oxford University, BA (Philosophy and Modern and Medieval Languages) (double first-class honours); BPP College, BPTC; BPP College, GDL.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Banking and finance (including consumer credit)
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 3Leonora Sagan – Fountain Court Chambers ‘Leonora is articulate, has clarity of thought and is robust in how she presents her arguments.’
London Bar > Business and regulatory crime (including global investigations)
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 3Leonora Sagan – Fountain Court Chambers ‘Leonora is highly intelligent and conscientious, well-informed in her field. She is a good advocate. She sees the big picture and is helpful in case strategy and not afraid to gold her own view in a discussion.’
London Bar > Commercial litigation
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 5Leonora Sagan – Fountain Court Chambers ‘Great tactical thinker. A powerful advocate who is able to deliver results for her clients.’
London Bar > Financial services and fintech regulation
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 3Leonora Sagan – Fountain Court Chambers ‘She is a very clear thinker and has a laser focus on the issues in the case, working quickly and effectively to master the materials and to produce high quality work. She expresses herself with economy and courts and tribunals find her advocacy to be persuasive.’
Offering ‘strong depth in insurance and regulatory matters’, Fountain Court Chambers has a well established reputation for their ability to handle significant regulatory investigations and enforcement actions, as well as financial services disputes of an international nature. Eleanor Davison continues to act for the former CEO and CFO of Metro Bank in an FCA investigation regarding the reporting of the bank’s risk weighted assets, with the matter due to be heard by the Upper Tribunal this year and potential for an appeal to the Court of Appeal regardless of the outcome. Robin Barclay KC, leading Leonora Sagan, is acting for Odey Asset Management LLP in the FCA investigation into allegations of sexual harassment of staff by Crispin Odey, a notable example of a non-financial misconduct case. Rebecca Loveridge, who is adept at presenting ‘complex technical issues in a comprehensible prose’, acted for the London Metal Exchange in the judicial review related to the disorder in the market for nickel futures that occurred in March 2022.
London Bar > Fraud: civil
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 4Leonora Sagan – Fountain Court Chambers ‘She’s got a very crisp advocacy style which is extremely effective. Her written work is also very well considered and never anything less than first class.‘
Renowned for its ‘strength in depth for financial services work’, Fountain Court Chambers handles a wide range of civil fraud disputes both domestically and internationally, such as matters related to dishonest assistance, conspiracy, and breaches of fiduciary duty. Members of the set are frequently involved in bank-related fraud claims, concerning allegations of mis-selling, rate rigging, and misappropriation of assets. For example, Bankim Thanki KC, Patrick Goodall KC and Natasha Bennett acted for the defendants in Farol Holdings v Clydesdale Bank and National Australia Bank, a fraudulent misrepresentation claim brought by customers. In Gemini v Watson and Others, Bankim Thanki KC and Jeffrey Chapman KC represent the claimant in a case against individuals and entities that deceived an investment house into investing £70m into a fraudulent vehicle purportedly for FX trading, while Richard Handyside KC and Aaron Taylor act for the IronFX defendants. Richard Lissack KC and Leonora Sagan act for Vandaglas Group GmbH in a claim for breach of warranty under a share purchase agreement and unlawful means conspiracy against three defendants, accused of running a systematic fraud through their family-owned glass manufacturing business. James Duffy KC was appointed silk in March 2024.