The Criminal Finances Act 2017 provided UK law enforcement with an array of new powers designed to make it easier to freeze and forfeit property held in the UK that is alleged to have been obtained from criminal conduct committed overseas.

Account Freezing Orders enable the police and other agencies to target funds held in UK bank accounts. If there is a reasonable suspicion that the balance is either the proceeds of crime or intended for use in unlawful conduct, any magistrates’ court can order it to be frozen for up to two years. If the court is later satisfied that the funds were obtained by or via unlawful conduct, then it can order the forfeiture of the entire balance by means of an Account Forfeiture Order.

These orders are intended to be used by law enforcement to forfeit large sums of money without needing to prosecute anyone and prove their guilt to the criminal standard of proof. They are  therefore relatively easy for UK authorities to obtain and require a careful strategy in order to oppose and defeat them.

Recent successes for our lawyers in opposing Account Freezing Orders and Account Forfeiture Orders include:

• Advising two Russian nationals on an application by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) for forfeiture of approximately £13m held in multiple UK bank accounts – the MPS withdrew the
  application following service of detailed expert and witness evidence and agreed to pay a substantial sum of money in lieu of our clients’ legal costs.
• Advising a Pakistani national on an application by the National Crime Agency (NCA) for account freezing orders over significant funds held in UK bank accounts.
• Persuading HMRC and the NCA to withdraw account freezing orders in relation to a legitimate Zimbabwean cash transfer business.
• Advising two separate clients concerning significant sums of money, where suspicion had arisen as a result of their involvement in cryptocurrency trading.
• Releasing £13m of assets owned by a wealthy overseas family, which had been frozen on the basis that significant sums had been transferred to their son at university in the UK.
• Assisting an entrepreneur under investigation by HMRC in respect of alleged VAT fraud. The team negotiated the release of the funds directly to HMRC as part of a civil settlement, alongside which the criminal investigation was closed.