In January 2025 the SFO secured over £1 million in assets through a confiscation order against Timothy Schools. Mr Schools had been convicted of defrauding investors into his Axiom Legal fund and was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment. Mr Schools had been found to have hidden some of the proceeds of his crime by transferring some of the money to his family members under the pretext that these were loans.
In January, the SFO also secured its first unexplained wealth order in relation to a property in the Lake District that was owned by Claire Schools the ex-wife of Timothy Schools. The SFO asserted that the purchase of the property was primarily funded through the proceeds of Mr Schools' fraud. In September the SFO announced that it had recovered £1.1 million from Ms Schools following the sale of the property.
In March the SFO recovered nearly £60,000 in laundered money connected with the RBG Resources plc. The money was laundered into two shell companies. The money is linked to the SFO's investigation into the collapse of London based metal trading company RGB Resources, which led to the successful prosecution of three individuals for fraud in 2008.
In July the SFO secured a confiscation order of £170,000 against Andrew Skeene for his role in Global Forestry Investments which defrauded investors of £37 million. Mr Skeene was given three months to satisfy the order or serve a default sentence of two years, to be served consecutively to the sentence of 11 years that was imposed on him in May 2022.
In July the SFO secured its first Crypto Wallet Freezing Order under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.The SFO successfully applied to freeze £10,865.76 in Bitcoin and £289.30 USDC that belonged to Richard Yeowart. Mr Yeowart is a suspect in the SFO's ongoing investigation into collapsed broadcast company Arena TV.