Nick Barnard
Partner
Expertise
- Representation of Athletes and Sports Professionals
- Export and trade controls
- School and university hearings
- Financial Reporting Council (FRC) investigations
- Professional disciplinary
- Food safety / environmental health
- FCA investigations
- FCA How to Guides
- Environmental crime
- Corporate Manslaughter / Health and Safety
- Competition & Markets Authority – Directors
PRACTICE AREA
Proceeds of crime
"They are exceptional practitioners in this area."
Band 1, Chambers 2025
Corker Binning handles a wide range of proceeds of crime investigations.
Proceeds of Crime and Asset Recovery
If your property has been frozen or seized by law enforcement, whether in cash, cryptocurrency, or real estate, the impact can be immediate and deeply unsettling. We provide experienced, pragmatic advice to help you respond effectively and protect what’s yours.
How Law Enforcement Uses Civil Powers to Seize Assets
UK enforcement agencies are increasingly focused on recovering assets rather than prosecuting individuals. Under the Criminal Finances Act 2017 and related legislation, authorities now have broad powers to freeze, seize or forfeit property they suspect is linked to criminal conduct, even without a conviction.
Tools such as Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs), Account Freezing Orders (AFOs), Civil Recovery Orders and Crypto Wallet Freezing Orders are often used to restrain property during investigations. The threshold for taking action can be low, and these powers are applied across a range of asset types.
Advising Clients Facing Asset Freezing or Seizure
We have extensive experience advising individuals and families whose assets are subject to freezing or forfeiture. This includes cases where property is restrained before any formal allegation is made. We understand how investigators build these cases and what strategies are most effective in responding to them.
We also support affected family members, such as spouses, co-owners or beneficiaries, who may lose access to jointly held property or face financial restrictions as a result of another person’s legal proceedings.
We are also well-placed to advise businesses which are either the subject of asset freezing or seizure orders, or are impacted by the wider implications of such orders.
A Strategic and Pragmatic Approach
We take a practical, strategic approach to resolving these matters. Our aim is to minimise disruption, protect reputations and, where possible, recover or release seized property.
By combining deep knowledge of financial crime law with insight into how enforcement bodies operate, we guide clients through complex decisions with clarity and discretion.
- Successfully negotiating the discharge of Account Freezing Orders in respect of:
- Two separate clients concerning significant sums of money, where suspicion had arisen as a result of their involvement in cryptocurrency trading.
- £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.
- 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.
- Funds held by a Zimbabwean cash transfer business.
- Advising the former MLRO of a law firm which is subject to an ongoing Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) investigation into breaches of anti-money laundering obligations.
- Representing the directors of a business subject to a POCA moratorium as a result of an ongoing Financial Conduct Authority investigation, as a result of which it was agreed that the FCA would not seek restraint orders in exchange for the directors providing undertakings not to deal with the funds during the life of the investigation.
- Representing to trial an individual charged with laundering over £100m as part of an extensive network transporting cash from the UK to Dubai.
- Advising an estate and property management firm on their AML and Money Laundering Regulations obligations, including a compliance inspection visit from HMRC, which arose from a high-profile overseas PEP client being implicated in a corruption investigation.
- Representing senior employees and former employees of several well-known banks as part of FCA investigations into their institution’s AML systems and controls.
- 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.
