The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has secured a £491,967.97 increase to the 2009 confiscation order against Alan Edwin Gardner following the discovery of additional assets, including equity in two UK properties, luxury vehicles and bank accounts. Gardner, who was convicted in June 2009 at Worcester Crown Court for defrauding British expatriates in Jakarta through a fictitious investment scheme—misrepresenting that funds were invested via UBS AG—received a six-year prison sentence. Previously, the SFO recovered £186,151.16 under the original confiscation order, which Gardner paid in full. The recovered funds will be returned to the public purse.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has secured £1.1m through its first successful use of an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO), following the sale of a Lake District property in April 2025. The property belonged to Claire Schools, ex-wife of Timothy Schools who was convicted of investment fraud in 2022. The UWO was granted by the High Court in January 2025 after investigators traced criminal funds from Schools' multi-million-pound investment scheme fraud to the property purchase. The SFO's investigation into Timothy Schools' assets is ongoing, with the next hearing scheduled for 26 September 2025 at City of London magistrates' court.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has secured a £10 million penalty from Ultra Electronics Holdings Ltd under a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA). The defence contractor accepted responsibility for failure to prevent bribery relating to three public sector contracts in Oman and Algeria. The investigation began in 2018 after Ultra Electronics self-reported suspected corruption in Algeria, and was later extended to all jurisdictions where the company operated in 2024. The bribery failures involved a contract worth up to £200 million awarded by the Omani Ministry of Transport and Communications, plus two Algerian contracts that were ultimately unsuccessful. Ultra Electronics must pay an additional £4.8 million in SFO investigation costs and provide yearly compliance reports for three years to demonstrate effective anti-bribery procedures.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has secured a £283,321 confiscation order against David Ames, who was convicted in 2022 of defrauding thousands of victims through the Harlequin timeshare scheme and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for £226m fraud. SFO investigators uncovered hidden assets belonging to Ames across multiple jurisdictions, including suspected land in Thailand, luxury properties in Dubai, cash held in a hidden bank account and 'tainted gifts' transferred to family members, with details heard during a contested hearing at Southwark Crown Court in November 2025. Ames operated Harlequin Group, persuading pensioners and first-time investors to part with over £226m through tactics including celebrity endorsement for timeshare properties overseas, with only 200 of 9,000 promised units built when the scheme collapsed in 2013. Ames must now pay the confiscation order or face up to three additional years added to his existing sentence.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has secured a £928,479 confiscation order against David Kennedy at Southwark Crown Court, with proceeds returning to victims of his £100m+ fraud. Kennedy, who is serving eight years for fraudulent trading following his June 2024 conviction, operated Axiom Legal Financing Fund with Timothy Schools, using investor money to fund high-risk legal cases. He has three months to pay or face an additional six and a half years imprisonment.

Law360: Britian's anti-corruption agency has seized more than £36,000 (US$46,000) from the former managing director of an African state-owned banknote printing company after prosecutors traced the money to a bribery scheme.

Law360, London: The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said on 6 October 2025 that the conviction of a former Deutsche Bank AG trader for conspiring to rig a benchmark interest rate remains safe even after the UK's highest court overturned similar cases of two former bankers earlier this year.

As 2023 begins, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has reported it is opening two key new trials for two major continuing cases. The trial of R v James Jardine, Mark Preston and Richard Morris is due to start on 9 January 2023. The trial of Jeffrey Cook and John Mason is due to start on 11 January 2023.  Both trials will be heard at Southwark Crown Court.

Law360, London: The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has not pursued any crypto wallet freezing or forfeiture orders since their introduction over a year ago, according to an information request disclosed 14 July 2025, a month after the government pledged more in funds for the agency to invest in its investigatory capabilities.

Corporate Crime analysis: The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) issued its updated Corporate Cooperation Guidance on 13 October 2026. The changes are intended to make the self-reporting process clearer for companies considering reporting suspected fraud, bribery or corruption. In particular, a company's legal representatives can now approach the SFO to discuss a potential self-report before making a formal submission. The guidance also clarifies what is expected of companies when assessing the wider extent of suspected offending. Written by Michael Balmer, Faria Jadoon and Elliott Kenton at Weightmans LLP.

Law360: The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said on 25 March 2024 that it will dispute findings that it persuaded a former Dechert partner to divulge confidential information about Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC), as the agency agreed to initially pay the mining company £9m (US$11.4m) in damages.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has announced that it will recover over £500,000 for the victims of a worldwide email fraud orchestrated by Abdallah Ali Jammal in 2002. Jammal stole money from victims through sending unsolicited emails to their inboxes, promising victims a commission in exchange for supposedly helping him release substantial amounts of money from countries including Nigeria. Jammal fled the UK in 2021 and the SFO uniquely pursued freezing orders for all his accounts, including stopping a transaction of £150,000 bound for the family-controlled Jammal Trust Bank in Lebanon, which was sanctioned by the US for facilitating banking for a terrorist organisation. The matter will be heard before the King’s Bench Division of the High Court in six months’ time.