Byrne and Partners LLP

Increasingly, recent legislation has targeted the assets purportedly accrued through criminal conduct. Powers are available both to seize the assets of individuals on a civil law basis and via the criminal courts.

Issues concerning restraint of assets, asset forfeiture and confiscation are essential considerations in nearly all criminal fraud trials. They are matters upon which clients need expert advice from the moment they become aware of a criminal investigation. The penalties and consequences for defendants (and importantly their families and dependents) are often as serious as those in the criminal proceedings themselves. The default sentences imposed in confiscation proceedings can often be longer than those for the original offence.

Our team is one of the most experienced in the country and routinely deals with such issues. We have established many of the leading precedents often for clients who have dismissed their trial solicitors and come to us for advice in the subsequent confiscation matters. This is an area that many less experienced firms fail to understand or fail to deal with early enough. That often results in catastrophic losses for the client even in circumstances where they are ultimately acquitted.

We are able to advise in respect of the following issues:

• Civil Receiverships under the Proceeds of Crime Act
• Pre charge Restraint Orders
• Variation of Restraint Orders
• Release of third parties assets from Restraint Orders
• Releasing business accounts from Restraint Orders
• Confiscation Orders – what the Crown is entitled to claim
• Asset Forfeiture – the civil proceedings by which money is often seized

Michael Potts was seconded to the Asset Recovery Agency and has particular expertise in acting both on behalf of and against Receivers appointed under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Contact: Andrew Benson
andrew.benson@byrneandpartners.com
44(0) 20 7842 1630