Banker’s wife who spent £16m in Harrods escapes extradition to Azerbaijan on embezzlement charges – Daily Telegraph

‘A banker’s wife who spent £16million during a series of shopping sprees in Harrods has escaped extradition back to Azerbaijan on fraud charges.’

Full Story

Daily Telegraph, 26th September 2019

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Couple must repay £10.4 million after ripping off struggling firms to live high life on yachts – Crown Prosecution Service

Posted September 13th, 2019 in assets recovery, banking, bankruptcy, fraud, loans, news, proceeds of crime by tracey

‘A couple who made a fortune bankrupting companies to fund their lavish lifestyle have today been ordered to repay more than £10million.’

Full Story

Crown Prosecution Service, 12th September 2019

Source: www.cps.gov.uk

Albanian crime boss who ran multi-million pound drugs racked ordered to pay only £14,380 – Daily Telegraph

‘An Albanian drugs kingpin who ran a multi-million pound cocaine racket only has to pay back £14,380 after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) requested a “risible” sum, a judge has complained.’

Full Story

Daily Telegraph, 4th September 2019

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Failure to pay confiscation order leaves recycling fraudster facing further eight years in prison – Local Government Lawyer

Posted September 3rd, 2019 in assets recovery, confiscation, fraud, news, proceeds of crime, waste by sally

‘A defendant convicted of defrauding the electrical waste recycling industry has been sentenced to prison for a further eight years after he failed to meet a £1.3m confiscation order.’

Full Story

Local Government Lawyer, 29th August 2019

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

NCA freezes £100m suspected to be from corruption overseas – The Guardian

‘More than £100m suspected to have been imported to the UK from bribery and corruption overseas has been frozen following a court order obtained by the National Crime Agency.’

Full Story

The Guardian, 14th August 2019

Source: www.theguardian.com

Diversion of a Business Opportunity: Recovery Partners & anor v Mr Rukhadze & ors [2018] EWHC 2918 (Comm) – Blackstone Chambers

‘The High Court recently had reason to consider liability where individuals, who owe fiduciary duties to a company, divert for themselves a business opportunity.’

Full Story

Blackstone Chambers, 25th February 2019

Source: www.employeecompetition.com

Courts uphold ‘ground breaking’ UK first unexplained wealth order – OUT-LAW.com

‘The High Court has upheld the UK’s first unexplained wealth order (UWO), dismissing a legal challenge to the order obtained by the National Crime Agency (NCA) earlier this year.’

Full Story

OUT-LAW.com, 16th October 2018

Source: www.out-law.com

SRA wins right to recover £800,000 costs from Blavo – Legal Futures

‘The Court of Appeal has allowed the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to try and recover the £800,000 it spent intervening in collapsed law firm Blavo & Co.’

Full Story

Legal Futures, 17th October 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

HMRC seizes assets from almost 3,000 businesses as government ramps up pressure on late tax payment – The Independent

Posted October 15th, 2018 in assets recovery, debts, HM Revenue & Customs, news, repayment, statistics, taxation by tracey

‘HM Revenue and Customs seized assets from 2,833 businesses last year as the government ramps up pressure on firms not paying tax on time. The number of firms facing asset seizures jumped 45 per cent from 2016/17 and has increased more than fourfold since 2014/15.’

Full Story

The Independent, 15th October 2018

Source: www.independent.co.uk

The New POCA Frontier: Bitcoin and Electronic Currency, Shaping Asset Recovery in the 21st Century – Drystone Chambers

‘The question of whether the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) can be used to deal with Bitcoins¹ and electronic currencies has been the subject of some speculation by specialist practitioners recently. In my view it can be utilised, but it is not ideal. I will not deal with the technical difficulties in finding bitcoin accounts; what I will concentrate on in this article is finding the correct legal tools to recover the assets and what other options are available when it does not work.’

Full Story

Drystone Chambers, 23rd October 2017

Source: drystone.com

Taking the Profit out of Killing Animals – Is Asset Recovery the Answer to Poaching? – Drystone Chambers

‘It is clear that some iconic species of animals are on the brink of extinction. This is not just a crisis for those countries in which those species live, but a global issue. It will ultimately take a collaborative world-wide response to combat the problem.’

Full Story

Drystone Chambers, 6th November 2017

Source: drystone.com

Criminal system failing fraud victims, says expert – OUT-LAW.com

Posted January 17th, 2017 in assets recovery, criminal justice, fraud, news, victims by tracey

‘UK authorities must do more to prioritise the recovery of assets that have been defrauded from businesses, an expert has said.’

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 16th January 2017

Source: www.out-law.com

Police to hire law firms to tackle cyber criminals in radical pilot project – The Guardian

‘Private law firms will be hired by police to pursue criminal suspects for profit, under a radical new scheme to target cyber criminals and fraudsters.’

Full story

The Guardian, 14th August 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Cybercriminal “Sir King Cash” ordered to pay back over half a million pounds – Crown Prosecution Service

‘Fraudster Sean Benson, who went by the screen name “Sir King Cash”, has been ordered to pay back £554,000 by a judge at Southwark Crown Court. Benson now has three months in which to pay back the money or face a further five years in jail. All of the money will be paid back to the victims of the fraud.’

Full press release

Crown Prosecution Service, 29th July 2016

Source: www.cps.gov.uk

Sanam v National Crime Agency – WLR Daily

Sanam v National Crime Agency: [2015] EWCA Civ 1234; [2015] WLR (D) 495

‘There was no basis for concluding that a civil recovery order obtained by the National Crime Agency pursuant to Part 5 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in respect of property derived from unlawful conduct would violate the rights of an innocent former wife of the criminal under article 1 of the First Protocol to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, even though she would be left without any assets if a recovery order was made.’

WLR Daily, 2nd December 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Law enforcement need to give more priority to asset recovery in criminal cases, says expert – OUT-LAW.com

Posted October 9th, 2015 in assets recovery, confiscation, enforcement, news, select committees by tracey

‘New figures showing that criminals have still to re-pay a total of £774 million in ill-gotten gains highlights the need for law enforcement agencies to give greater priority to asset recovery in their criminal investigations, an expert has said.’

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 8th October 2015

Source: www.out-law.com

Ancient Greek relic looted from Libya to be returned – Daily Telegraph

Posted September 2nd, 2015 in artistic works, assets recovery, fraud, HM Revenue & Customs, news by sally

‘Judge orders the 4ft marble statue smuggled into Britain in 2011 was “unlawfully excavated”.’

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 1st September 2015

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Fake locum doctor sentenced – Crown Prosecution Service

‘A man who pretended to be a qualified doctor has been sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court to six years in prison.’

Full story

Crown Prosecution Service, 17th July 2015

Source: www.cps.gov.uk

Open Consultation: Codes of practice issued under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) – Home Office

“The operation of certain powers within POCA are subject to guidance issued by the Secretary of State in various codes of practice. The existing codes need updating due to certain provisions in the Serious Crime Act 2015 and the full extension of POCA powers to Northern Ireland.’

Full press release

Home Office, 10th July 2015

Source: www.gov.uk/home-office

Ex-cricketer Andy Hayhurst jailed for £100k fraud – BBC News

Posted June 15th, 2015 in assets recovery, fraud, news, proceeds of crime, sentencing, theft by sally

‘A former cricketer who stole more than £100,000 meant for young players has been jailed for two years.’
Full story

BBC News, 12th June 2015

Source: www.bbc.co.uk