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NLJ this week: Proceeds of crime cases have never been so civil

12 May 2023
Issue: 8024 / Categories: Legal News , Criminal , Fraud , Freezing orders
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Who put the civil into proceeds of crime cases? Civil remedies such as account freezing (AFOs) and forfeiture orders have come to dominate what was once an overwhelmingly criminal concern, Hickman & Rose partner Andrew Katzen and associate Olivia Dwan write in this week’s NLJ.

Katzen and Dwan look at the various remedies available, outlining the peculiarities, popularity and pros and cons of each. For example, unexplained wealth orders (also known informally as ‘McMafia Orders’) ‘have not lived up to their promise’, whereas AFOs are frequently used.

The authors also look at the means available to challenge an AFO, and how to assess whether or not it is worth it. They note that this is a complex area of law and that ‘there is a significant gap in amounts of money frozen, and the amounts that are eventually seized’. 

Find more on proceeds of crime cases here.

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NEWS
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
Lawyers have broadly welcomed plans to electronically tag up to 22,000 more offenders, scrap most prison terms below a year and make prisoners ‘earn’ early release
David Lammy, Ellie Reeves and Baroness Levitt have taken up office at the Ministry of Justice, following the cabinet reshuffle
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