Charlie Patrick is a Partner at FRA with almost 25 years’ experience working in forensic accounting, investigations, and compliance.

Charlie has extensive experience as a forensic accountant and investigator, working for UK-based and global businesses across a range of industries, ranging from retailers to banks. He has wide international experience with over seven years working outside of the UK.

Anti-bribery and corruption investigations and compliance has been a key focus for Charlie for nearly two decades. He has run numerous risk reviews and assessments of company anti-bribery and anti-fraud procedures and controls, including as part of proposed M&A transactions. He has led over 75 investigations into allegations of fraud and misdemeanor in the UK, across Europe, and globally and has provided anti-bribery and anti-fraud training in over a dozen countries.

Charlie was part of the FRA team supporting Airbus in a multi-year, multinational investigation, resulting in a EUR 3.6b settlement with four investigative authorities: UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the US Department of State (DOS), and French Parquet National Financier (PNF). Charlie led the FRA team assisting Airbus in the improvement of its compliance program. This included designing a transformative global anti-bribery and corruption (ABAC) risk assessment and supporting the follow-up implementation to meet the requirements of major global regulators, as well as the testing the effectiveness of a range of financial and non-financial controls. 

He was also asked by Rolls-Royce to provide an independent assessment of their anti-bribery compliance program during the last year of the company’s UK Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA). The report was submitted to the SFO prior to the company’s release from the DPA.

One client says of Charlie: “[He] is an outstanding individual who possesses an excellent mix of technical strength, personal integrity and the ability to deliver business-focused solutions.”

Prior to joining FRA, Charlie established and led the Forensic Accounting team in Central and Eastern Europe at KPMG and spent two years as EMA Head of Anti-Bribery and Corruption. Charlie has appeared as a witness of fact in the UK High Court, and as an expert accounting witness in a criminal prosecution and international arbitrations. 

Charlie has a First-Class degree in Metallurgy, Economics and Management from Oxford University, is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and was a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (1994 – 2023).