Experts question effectiveness of new enforcement tool SFO is finally wielding
By 
Neil Hodge2025-02-10T16:42:00
The U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has made its first use of an enforcement tool that was meant to bring oligarchs and kleptocrats to book. But lawyers are unsure whether the move signifies either a change in direction or fortune for the agency.
On Jan. 17 at the High Court in London, the SFO secured its first unexplained wealth order (UWO) in a bid to recover a 1.5 million-pound sterling property suspected of being purchased with the proceeds of a 100-million pound sterling fraud.
The house is owned by Claire Schools, the ex-wife of solicitor Timothy Schools, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2022 for fraud. She must produce information about how the property was obtained by Friday.
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