SFO secures first Unexplained Wealth Order in £100 million fraud case

The property is valued at around £1.5 million and is owned by Claire Schools, the ex-wife of the convicted solicitor Timothy Schools, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2022.

The SFO successfully secured the UWO to freeze the property to ensure that, if sold, the proceeds are secured. Schools has also been ordered to produce information about how the property was obtained within 28 days. The SFO may use this information to bring a case to seize the house at a later date.

This UWO follows the confiscation of a further £1 million from Schools in a hearing at Southwark Crown Court earlier this month.

An UWO is an investigative tool used to determine the source of funding for an asset where there’s reasonable suspicion that it was acquired with the proceeds of crime. If the recipient fails to prove that the asset was acquired legitimately, the SFO may apply to seize it at the High Court.  

This is the first UWO used by the SFO since the mechanism was introduced by Parliament in 2017. The SFO is the second law enforcement authority to ever use the tool.

Nick Ephgrave QPM, director of the SFO, commented: “This is a milestone case for the SFO and follows on from the successful £1 million recovery to go back to the victims in this case.”

Ephgrave added: “Wherever criminal assets have been hidden or dispersed, we will progress our investigations with determination and explore new methods to recover funds for victims and the public purse.”

Convicted fraudster handed fifth prison sentence

Dr Gerald Martin Smith, currently in prison for COVID-19 loan fraud, has been imprisoned for an additional 13 months for obstructing the SFO from seizing his properties on behalf of the taxpayer.

The SFO uncovered that Smith sought to obstruct the confiscation of a flat by arranging for an acquaintance, namely London-based ophthalmologist Dr Robert Morris, to transfer ownership of his Bloomsbury property to a British Virgin Islands company called Minardi Investments Ltd that Smith secretly controlled.  

Smith also changed the locks and arranged for two tenants to occupy the flat in order to further obstruct the selling of the property. 

SFO investigators found that Smith breached an order limiting his spending until he pays back criminal assets by receiving regular funds from his brother, Anthony Smith. Smith – in receipt of money from his brother – spent over £53,000 across 19 months at luxury restaurants in central London, as well as holidaying in Mallorca.   

Nick Ephgrave stated: “We are determined to prevent criminals benefiting from their crime and wherever assets are hidden or obstructed, we will go after them. 

This sentence should serve as a warning to Smith and those assisting him that we will not stop in our recovery and enforcement of court orders against him.”

*Further information is available online at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/serious-fraud-office