Ilias Anagnostopoulos heads Athens-based law firm Anagnostopoulos focusing on criminal and regulatory risk management and all aspects of business crime defence. He has appeared as lead counsel in most significant cases in Greece during the past 25 years including business and financial fraud, insider dealing, tax and customs fraud, money laundering, asset recovery, anti-competitive practices, corruption practices, criminal corporate liability, anti-terrorism, product criminal liability, environmental offences, medical malpractice, art crimes, mutual assistance, extradition and surrender procedures. He is regularly instructed to advise and represent leading corporations from the energy, defence, aviation, shipping, automotive, construction, financial services, raw materials, pharmaceuticals, food, health-care, tobacco, telecommunications, travel and leisure, and media sectors, as well as foreign governments and governmental organisations.
Since July 2013 Ilias chairs the Hellenic Criminal Bar Association. From 2007 to 2013 he chaired the Criminal Law Committee of the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), Brussels and is a founder member of the European Criminal Bar Association (ECBA).
Ilias was a member of the Law Commission (2015-2019) on the new Greek Criminal Code, which entered into force in July 2019.
Some of Ilias’s notable cases in 2019-2020:
The Court of Appeal Athens cleared on 22.1.2020 six former LM Ericsson executives (including an ex-CEO) from charges of bribery and money laundering in relation to the purchase of military equipment by the Hellenic Ministry of Defence in 1999. The Court ruled that the charges against the Ericsson defendants lacked legal basis. By the same judgment seven co-defendants have been convicted for bribery-related money laundering, among them a former ministerial secretary, a well-known businessman, and financial intermediaries.
The Court of Appeal Athens acquitted on 9.10.2019 the members of the Board and high ranking executives of Alpha Bank (one of the largest banks in Greece) from charges of breach of trust in relation to multi-million loans granted to a well-known publishing company and its principal who ran into financial difficulties. The Court held that the defendants did not breach legal or best practice rules which governed the granting and/or restructuring of loans to companies or individuals but acted within the limits of the business judgment rule.
The Court of Appeal Athens rejected on 6.9.2019 a UK European Arrest Warrant against a well-known Greek businessman on charges of fraud against Barclays and false financial statements in relation to companies traded in London’s Alternative Investment Market. His extradition was sought by the Financial Conduct Authority. The Court held that the EAW shall be rejected on prescription and territoriality grounds.
Ilias received his education at the School of Law, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (1978), and the J.W. Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany (Dr. juris, 1982). He is a professor in criminal law and criminal procedure at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Law.
Ilias Anagnostopoulos received his education at the School of Law, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (1978), and the J.W. Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany (Dr juris, 1982). He is a professor in criminal law and criminal procedure at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Law.
Ilias sits on the editorial board of the leading criminal law journal in Greece, “Poinika Chronika”, and is a regular commentator of cases offering expert opinions in domestic and cross-border proceedings. His numerous publications in Greek, English and German cover most aspects of business crimes, international and European criminal law, the reform of criminal procedure, human rights and crime policy.
Some of his publications are: ‘Proportionality issues in European Arrest Warrant Proceedings’, in: The Principle of Proportionality in Crime Control and Criminal Justice (2020, Hart Publishing -forthcoming); ‘One Act, Multiple Prosecutions Unlimited Sanctions?’, in: American Bar Association, 31st Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime, 2017; ‘Criminal justice cooperation in the EU after the first few steps’: A defence view’, ERA Forum 2014.
Memberships include the Criminal Law Experts Committee of the Hellenic Ministry of Justice, High Legal-Council with the Bank of Greece, ICC-FraudNet, European Criminal Law Academic Network, International Bar Association, International Association of Penal Law, International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (international), American Bar Association (associate).
