By Anne-Marie Ottaway, Barry Vitou and Gareth R. Hall on Posted in criminal law,White collarPart III of our series on asset recovery powers available to UK law enforcement authorities focuses on new powers under the Criminal Finances Act 2017 to obtain orders to freeze bank accounts and apply for forfeiture orders, permanently depriving the account holder of the funds contained in the account. These draconian new powers have received little publicity… Continue Reading
By Anne-Marie Ottaway, Barry Vitou and Gareth R. Hall on Posted in White collarIn the first of our two-part series, we looked at Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs). To summarize, UWOs require the recipient to explain how they obtained their wealth/assets, which authorities have reasonable grounds to suspect could not have been with the recipient’s known sources of income. The UWO is the beginning of a journey that can result… Continue Reading
By Anne-Marie Ottaway, Barry Vitou and Gareth R. Hall on Posted in White collarUnexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) have recently been in the news. They extend the powers available to UK law enforcement authorities under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA). A UWO enables investigators to ask people who are holding assets, which based on their legitimate income they would not be able to afford, to prove that… Continue Reading
