Business Crime

Maria is a Partner in the Business Crime Department.  She specialises in financial crime, with a firmly established expertise in international corruption and money laundering investigations. The majority of her cases are international and involve working with teams of professional advisors in multiple jurisdictions.  Maria advises both corporates and senior executives on business critical issues and strategy. She has extensive experience advising on, and carrying out, complex and often sensitive internal investigations both here and overseas.  Both as part of internal investigations and separately, she is asked to advise on compliance policies and procedures, self-disclosure and self-reporting, as well as liaising with regulators and enforcement bodies. She has particular expertise in cash seizures, asset restraint, frozen accounts, forfeiture and confiscation; often as part of a corruption or money laundering investigation. Recent headline cases include: acting for a multinational company in a global corruption investigation, acting for prominent individuals in respect of allegations of corruption both here and overseas, acting for a former minister in connection with allegations of money laundering, acting for a CEO in the Petrobras investigation; and acting for a corporate and senior executive in successfully defending a private prosecution. She regularly speaks and writes on bribery and corruption, money laundering and other financial crime risks, both here and overseas.

Qualified at Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP (2010); Partner at Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP (2018-present).

French, Russian and German.

Member of the Advisory Committee of the Fraud Advisory Panel; President of the UK National Committee of the UIA (Union International des Avocats); former President of the Criminal Commission of the UIA (Union International des Avocats); Member of the Fraud Lawyers Association; Member of the Franco-British Lawyers Society.

University of Cambridge  (2005, BA Modern and Medieval Languages); City University  (2006, GDL); BPP  (2007, BVC)