Restraint orders and confiscation proceedings

Restraint orders, under which prosecutors seek to preserve or freeze assets with a view to satisfying enforcement of a future confiscation order following a criminal conviction, are now a standard feature of criminal fraud investigations. Increasingly these powers are being exercised at the request of overseas prosecuting authorities and orders are very often obtained at an early stage, well before any charges are made. We regularly advise clients and third parties who are, or may be, the subject of, or affected by, restraint orders, whether domestic or international.

Corker Binning is a law firm specialising in fraud, regulatory litigation and general criminal work of all types. We are highly experienced in dealing with every aspect of restraint orders, including challenging their validity, using undertakings to obtain an early discharge of orders and administering or monitoring them, as well as handling subsequent confiscation proceedings.

Recent restraint order and confiscation proceeding work includes advising a trust fund in persuading the authorities to release the fund from a restraint order. The fund owned extensive UK property which the authorities alleged was under the control of the defendant, who was not Corker Binning's client. Corker Binning persuaded the Crown Prosecution Service that the defendant did not in fact have control and that the UK property could not therefore be restrained. The case involved complex issues of conveyancing, equity and trust law.

The firm has also advised on restraint orders when acting for Anne Darwin in the “missing canoeist” fraud prosecution and has acted in several cases involving actual and threatened overseas restraint orders.