Could Property Bought With Ill-Gotten Gains Be Sold

[Iluvspikey]

to recoup the money?
A friend of a friend of a friend for this purpose we'll call 'Pam' (not her real name) has just found out that her ex husband 'Tom' (not his real name) is going to be prosecuted for embezzlement. Apparently he has been stealing from this company since the day he started 40 years ago and he made a 'slip-up' on his retirement. The house that she lives in was part of her divorce settlement and appears to have been bought with stolen money - will Pam have to sell? She swears she had absolutely no idea that he was stealing money, and put their rather lavish (for the time, shes been divorced from him 7 years but apart from him for 12 years, neither of them bothered untill 'Tom' wanted to remarry) lifestyle down to bonus's commissions, dividends and gratuities, ok you could say she was naive in all this but where does she stand as regards her home?

[woofgang]

I am not a legal beagle but knew of a similar thing. In the case I knew, the police had to prove that the house was purchased form the proceeds of crime and not earned money, with the criminal proceeds being used elsewhere.

[Iluvspikey]

That's the thing, everybody wondered (apart from 'Pam') how they could afford the house in the first place with just his salary, plus lavish holidays abroad and a cottage somewhere down south too - and he had a new car every year. His empoyers thought he'd married into money, and obviously he didn't put them right.

[Nibble]

IMO, this could well be viewed with suspicion, under the Proceeds of Crime Act Money Laudering (2002), which will render her an accomplice as living on the Proceeds of Crime, and receiving stolen goods (in the form of the house - under the money laudering regulations)..


http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/proceeds_of_crime_money_laundering/

[Peter Pedant]

wait and see

actually I dont see that 'Pam' as we call her can do anything else.

I bought a house on the open market and was surprised to be invited by the Assets Recovery agency to show that I was not related to a well known gangster family (I'm not ! I'm NOT!) and the transfer was not fraudulent. The previous owner HAD gone back into prison but Hey! that doesnt mean I am his cousin ! You will note that the agency alleged and I had to disprove their statements.

I put my back into that one on the grounds that I could lose the house otherwise. Luckilu I was assisted by my unusal surname (Pedant), my obvious lack of facility with shot-guns or what to do with things called 'death-stars'

I dont see that she can do anything except wait and see.


Sell the house and run away ? oh I dont think she should do that.


Oh, the crim came out eventually and asked who had bought his house [Eek!] but that as they say is another story

[jno]

blimey, PP, that'd put you right off buying a house at all. Maybe you should just rent from those nice Rachmanns.

[themas]

As PP says - wait & see. But if she is chased she must immediately get legal advice - without making any admission. It could become very serious. There is a big difference between being naive & being complicit in what appears to have been a pretty major crime. There are probably Court cases in this sort of thing which a solicitor should be able to advise her on.

[Peter Pedant]

well at this site
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/proceeds_of_crime_act_guidance/


you get this: [the short answer is maybe, it depends]
The matrimonial home

A confiscation order is an order to pay a sum of money and may be enforced against any property held by the defendant, even if some of that property was legally obtained. Accordingly, the matrimonial home may be seized and confiscated, if the defendant fails to pay. Subject to the operation of section 31 of the Family Law Act 1996, this may result in the eviction of other family members.

The effect of section 69(3)(a) POCA is to reverse the unreported case of Customs and Excise v A (July 22 2002, CA); a case in which it was held that a property adjustment order could be made in family proceedings notwithstanding the provisions of the Drug Trafficking Act 1994.

The court may not, however, order the realisation of any share in the matrimonial home owned by the spouse or partner, unless it can be shown that the share was a tainted gift (see R v Buckman [1997] 1 Cr.App.R.(S.) 325).

It sometimes occurs that the spouse of an offender petitions for divorce and seeks the transfer of the matrimonial home into his or her sole name in ancillary relief proceedings. Where this occurs, it may be necessary for the CPS to seek leave to intervene in the ancillary relief proceedings. The Proceeds of Crime Unit must be consulted whenever intervention is contemplated.