Our Expertise
St Pauls Chambers provides legal services throughout the UK and worldwide. We are known for providing excellence in our areas of focus.
As a leading barristers chambers in Leeds, our expertise span the depth and breadth of a number of key areas of law.
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St Pauls Chambers have an excellent team of Barristers, Clerks & Administration, with our barristers including KC’s, Members and Pupils.
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Richard Barraclough KC successfully prosecuted a major illegal money lending operation involving repeat offender Vincenzo Lapenna and co-defendant Nargis Chaudhary, who pleaded guilty during the fifth listing of the trial in May 2026. Richard led Joseph Millington, instructed by Simon Mortimer at Birmingham City Council, in a case concerning a sophisticated multi-million-pound unlawful lending business that operated in deliberate defiance of previous criminal proceedings.
The prosecution uncovered how Lapenna continued illegal lending activities even after his 2017 arrest and subsequent conviction for nineteen offences relating to unauthorised money lending and money laundering. The case involved extensive financial investigation, analysis of electronic evidence, and the exposure of sham loan arrangements designed to disguise regulated consumer loans as exempt business agreements.
The prosecution further demonstrated that Lapenna and Chaudhary conspired to conceal ongoing unlawful activity during confiscation proceedings, including through a written agreement enabling the business to continue while frustrating regulatory enforcement.
Illegal money lending and money laundering frequently operate hand in hand. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 prohibits individuals from carrying on regulated lending activities without proper authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority, while the statutory framework also seeks to prevent the concealment and recycling of criminal proceeds through ostensibly legitimate financial transactions. In this case, the prosecution demonstrated how unlawful lending activity generated substantial criminal profits which were then reinvested and disguised within wider business operations, amounting to the laundering of criminal property through a sophisticated and sustained illegal enterprise.
The matter highlights Richard Barraclough KC’s expertise in heavyweight financial crime, regulatory prosecutions, and complex fraud-related litigation.
Chambers is centrally located within walking distance of the train station, secure car parks and the Courts.
St Pauls Chambers
Park Row House
19-20 Park Row
Leeds
LS1 5JF
For out of hours assistance please call the senior clerk on 07854170429.
The switchboard will open from 08:30 until 17:30
Phone: +44 (0)1132 455 866
Email: [email protected]
CJSM: [email protected]
