George Carter-Stephenson KC > 25 Bedford Row > London, England > Barrister Profile

With established experience in representing individuals prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office, the CPS and other prosecutors, 25 Bedford Row is considered ‘a leading set for criminal defence work‘ in areas of practice that include anti-money laundering, bribery and due diligence matters. George Carter-Stephenson KC acted for the principal defendant in a trial after an SFO investigation into the collapse of the Cayman registered Axiom Legal Financing Fund, a fund which allegedly enabled the dishonest misuse of £107m of investors’ money for personal and business benefit, rather than for financing litigation. In another SFO case, Nathaniel Rudolf KC represented the former managing director of the Middle Eastern arm of Balli Steel, who was acquitted on the larger counts, but convicted of others, regarding an alleged fraud carried out by non-existent steel trades.

25 Bedford Row is a powerhouse criminal defence set with ‘talented barristers at every level of call’. George Carter-Stephenson KC has recently acted in several high-profile cases, including R v McSweeney, with the defendant sentenced in December 2022 to life imprisonment with a minimum of 38 years for the sexual assault and murder of Zara Aleena. Paul Mendelle KC represented a man acquitted of both murder and manslaughter of a man who featured in a BBC Panorama documentary on gang violence in 2007 – two other defendants were convicted. Matthew Radstone is involved in the first prosecution brought under the Political Parties, Elections, and Referendums Act 2000, following alleged electoral offences by a former Conservative MP said to have received illegitimate political donations from the defendant, against a backdrop of the disappearance of money said to be a loan for the redevelopment of Northampton Town’s stadium Sixfields. Kate Chidgey successfully represented a female nurse working at the high-security psychiatric hospital Broadmoor, who was acquitted on five counts of causing or inciting a person with a mental disorder impeding choice to engage in sexual activity – the defence case was that the male resident had planted her blood in his underwear with a used sanitary product extracted from a bin.

25 Bedford Row is a leading criminal defence set with ‘a huge depth of talent dealing with fraud cases’. George Carter-Stephenson KC has considerable experience defending in complex fraud cases – he represented a struck-off solicitor in the criminal case concerning the collapse of the Axiom Legal Financing Fund, which claimed to be funding litigation. In 2022 Nicola Howard KC, ‘a superb jury advocate’, defended a case involved an international confidence fraud orchestrated by a film producer.  Nathaniel Rudolf KC defended in a case concerning an alleged boiler room fraud, involving purported investments in payday loans and diamonds.