30 SECOND GUIDE TO ...

ASSET SEIZURES

Explain please

ASSET seizure – also known as asset forfeiture in the US – is when prosecutors grab the proceeds from criminal activity.

What’s new?

The Serious Fraud Office has ramped up asset seizures, pulling in cash from a third more cases last year – 27 instead of 21 the year before.

Why?

Law firm Pinsent Masons, which has analysed the numbers, reck- ons the rise in SFO raids on fraudsters is partly a response to criticism of law enforcers for allowing convicted criminals to ignore confiscation orders. The seizures are also designed to send a message to would-be criminals that they will be stripped of any wealth gained through fraud.

Sounds positive?

That’s the idea. It may even help the SFO shed its image as the Serious Farce Office – as labelled by satirical magazine Private Eye – for its woeful record on pursuing white collar criminals. The number of raids carried out to gather evidence is also up, trebling from 8 in 2012 to 26 in just one year. On the downside, the amount of money seized remains paltry. In 2011-12 some £50.2m was seized.

Last year it was just £11.4m and seizing assets remains difficult for the authorities as criminals tend to stash their ill-gotten gains offshore or transfer the assets into the names of accomplices to hide them.