Matthew Knowles is a Trading Standards and Financial Investigations professional with 15 years’ experience in criminal investigation and enforcement. He has been involved in many complex investigations which include fraud, consumer protection and intellectual property offences, either as Lead Investigator or Investigations Manager. Some of his previous investigation examples include wholesale suppliers of counterfeit goods, traders who defrauded a vulnerable resident out of approximately £75,000 for valueless repair work, a fraudulent family law advisor, fraudulent car traders, business to business advertising fraud, and an organised crime group involved in the wholesale supply of illicit tobacco.
He has gained National Crime Agency accreditations as a Financial Investigator and Senior Authorising Officer and has been involved in money laundering and confiscation investigations which have resulted in the confiscation of over £7,600,000 in criminal proceeds. Matthew is passionate about protecting vulnerable consumers from fraudulent traders who target them by offering home maintenance and repair work. His other main area of interest is intellectual property crime, its global supply chain and logistics, and its links to other serious and organised crime and money laundering. This is an area he hopes to research further in collaboration with others.