SFO raids kick off probe into collapsed Signature Group

The U.K. Serious Fraud Office (SFO) carried out several residential raids Wednesday as it announced the launch of a criminal investigation into collapsed property investment firm Signature Group.

The SFO coordinated with the National Crime Agency in arresting four unnamed individuals in connection with the probe, which seeks to determine how Signature Group entered administration with losses of up to 140 million pounds (U.S. $177 million) impacting approximately 1,000 investors across the globe.

“We have people up and down the country left out of pocket and buildings left derelict at the center of our cities,” said SFO Director Nick Ephgrave in an agency press release. “Today’s arrests and searches will help us reconstruct exactly what happened. This is now an active criminal investigation.”