Skip to main content
Closed Door · Government Officials Only

1 June 2026 · London · Invitation & vetted registration

Sayari Illuminate ×
UK Government
Community Meet Up

Practitioners and leaders. Tradecraft and intelligence. Off the record.

An invitation-only gathering for practitioners and leaders from across UK government and industry to discuss collaboration, tradecraft intelligence, and practical strategies for combating serious organised crime and national security threats.

Venue
ADS Group Limited · Salamanca Square
9 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SP · United Kingdom
View on Google Maps →
Monday, 1 June 2026
London, UK
Chatham House Rule
Request your place
Attendance is by invitation. Submissions are vetted before confirmation. Please use a government email address where possible.
Your information is held in confidence and used only to confirm attendance and venue access.
A confidential briefing. Chatham House Rule applies throughout. No press. No social media. No recording, photography, or live transmission of any session. Participants are free to use information received, but neither the identity nor affiliation of the speaker(s) or any other participant may be revealed.
About the Briefing

Bringing UK government and industry together to operate against serious threats

Serious and organised crime, illicit finance networks, and threats to national security increasingly cross jurisdictions and sectors. The practitioners working these problems sit in different agencies, departments, and private companies, and they rarely have the room to compare notes candidly.

This meet up brings together a small group of senior operators from across UK government and industry to discuss what is actually working, what is not, and where commercial intelligence and modern data tradecraft can move investigations and risk programmes forward.

The format is structured for honest exchange: peer presentations, working discussion, and dedicated time to make the connections that turn into follow-on work back at the desk.

Date
Monday, 1 June 2026
Full agenda confirmed in the week prior
Venue
ADS Group Limited
Salamanca Square, 9 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SP
Format
Peer presentations · Working discussion · Networking
Audience
UK government officials & vetted industry partners
Programme & Speakers

A short, focused day with practitioner-led sessions

Kevin Newe, Head of Financial Crime Threats, HM Revenue and Customs
Featured Speaker
Kevin Newe
Head of Financial Crime Threats
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

Kevin is an internationally recognised expert in illicit finance with more than 18 years’ experience leading strategic and operational responses to financial crime, making him a sought-after voice on high-impact financial crime issues.

His expertise centres on identifying and disrupting complex laundering methodologies, including the misuse of corporate structures, professional enabler facilitation, cross-border value transfer schemes, and the integration of criminal proceeds through traditional and emerging financial channels.

In his current role, Kevin directs HMRC’s strategic approach to priority financial crime threats and helps shape national enforcement and intelligence strategies. As a Financial Action Task Force (FATF) assessor, he contributes to global evaluations of compliance with international standards, including the UAE’s Mutual Evaluation Review.

Kevin’s impact has been recognised with the 2022 Keith Hughes Award for Excellence and Innovation in Financial Investigation and a 2025 World Customs Organization Merit Certificate for advancing international collaboration against illicit finance.

More speakers being confirmed
Additional speakers will be published in the weeks ahead.
Registered attendees will receive the final speaker list and any agenda updates by email in the week before the event.
Featured Sessions & Keynote Panels

Four sessions on the operational frontier

Government Leadership Panel

Data Insights: The Social Impact of Economic & Organised Crime

A walkthrough of the downstream human cost of financial crime, and how regulators and the private sector are evolving their collaboration to combat the way serious organised crime infiltrates and degrades society.

Deep Dive
Latest findings from the Chinese Money Laundering White Paper. How HMG can create and maintain an environment unattractive to CMLOs and OCGs in illicit finance.
Featured Contributors
  • Kevin Newe · Head of Financial Crime Threats, HMRC
  • National Crime Agency · speaker to be confirmed
  • Adrian Searle · former Director, National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) & UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU)
  • Simon York · Sayari · former Director, HMRC Risk and Intelligence Service
  • Moderated by Evan Lehner · Public Safety Lead, Sayari UK
Working Session · 35 min inc. Q&A

Uncovering Adversarial Influence in UK Supply Chains & Critical National Infrastructure

Adversary states exploit opaque ownership and hidden sub-tier dependencies to compromise UK supply chains and infrastructure. This session shows how Sayari automates sub-tier mapping, surfaces Foreign Ownership, Control and Influence (FOCI), and enables continuous monitoring that replaces the blind spots of point-in-time assessments.

Live Case Studies
What adversarial presence looks like in practice, and what it takes to find it across complex corporate structures and material dependencies sourced from adversarial states.
Featured Contributors
  • Drawn from the Sayari UK government and analyst team
Tradecraft Masterclass

Tradecraft Masterclass on Sayari Organised Crime & Vendor Vetting in High-Threat Situations

A practitioner-led walkthrough of the complexities of conducting due diligence in high-risk jurisdictions. How to maintain supply chain and counterparty integrity when the actors involved are actively obfuscating their footprints.

Tradecraft Focus
Entity and network analysis techniques, hands-on examples from active investigations, and lessons learned from countering state threats against UK and European supply chains and critical national infrastructure.
Featured Contributors
  • Sayari practitioner team, with confirmed government and law-enforcement contributors
Innovation Spotlight

Scaling Investigations with Responsible AI

How Sayari is operationalising responsible AI inside the investigative workflow, scaling analyst capacity without compromising provenance, judgement, or explainability. A practical view of the guardrails, evaluation methods, and human-in-the-loop checkpoints that make AI usable for government investigations.

What You Will See
Live demonstrations of Graph AI automating link discovery on real network problems, a look at the Sayari Pilot environment built for large-scale network illumination, and the safeguards that make AI defensible in a government context.
Featured Contributor
  • Will Bell · Solutions Director, Global Government BU, Sayari
Provisional Agenda

A short, focused day · 1 June 2026

13:30
Arrival & Registration
14:00
Welcome
Welcome Remarks
Bill Burnett · Sales Director, UK Government, Sayari
14:05
Threat Assessment
The Rise and Rise of Chinese Money Laundering Organisations · UK Threat Assessment
14:10
Government Leadership Panel
Data Insights: The Social Impact of Economic and Organised Crime
How does HMG create and maintain an environment that is unattractive to CMLOs and OCGs in illicit finance?
Kevin Newe · Head of Financial Crime Threats, HMRC
National Crime Agency · speaker to be confirmed
Adrian Searle · former Director, NECC & UKFIU
Simon York · Sayari · former Director, HMRC Risk and Intelligence Service
Moderated by Evan Lehner · Public Safety Lead, Sayari UK
14:30
Masterclass
Tradecraft Masterclass on Sayari Organised Crime
14:45
Lessons Learned
Countering State Threats Against UK & European Supply Chains and Critical National Infrastructure
14:55
Working Session · 35 min inc. Q&A
Uncovering Adversarial Influence in UK Supply Chains and Critical National Infrastructure
Live case studies on FOCI, sub-tier mapping, and continuous monitoring across complex corporate structures and adversarial-state material dependencies.
15:30
Innovation Spotlight
Scaling Investigations with Responsible AI
Will Bell · Solutions Director, Global Government BU, Sayari
16:00
Close
Closing Remarks
16:15 – 18:00
Networking at The Rose
35 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TL · a short walk from the venue

Provisional · subject to refinement in the weeks ahead. Registered attendees will receive the final agenda by email in the week before the event.

Who Should Attend

Built for practitioners working at the edge of the problem

AUDIENCE 01
National security & intelligence
Officers and analysts working serious organised crime, threat finance, sanctions, and adjacent national security mandates inside HMG departments and agencies.
AUDIENCE 02
Law enforcement & regulatory
Investigators and policy leads from UK law enforcement, financial crime regulators, and the bodies responsible for enforcement of the UK’s economic crime regime.
AUDIENCE 03
Industry partners
Senior risk, compliance, and intelligence leaders from companies that work alongside UK government on supply chain integrity, sanctions, and illicit finance.
Venue

ADS Group, Salamanca Square, London

Venue Address
ADS Group Limited
Salamanca Square
9 Albert Embankment
London SE1 7SP
United Kingdom

Access & logistics

Salamanca Square sits on the South Bank, a short walk from Vauxhall and Lambeth North stations. Confirmed attendees will receive venue access details, security requirements, and arrival instructions in their confirmation email closer to the date.

Questions?
Contact [email protected]

Request your place at the UK Government meet up

Places are limited and attendance is vetted. Submit your details and the Sayari team will be in touch to confirm.

Request a Place

Questions? Contact [email protected]