Avon and Somerset Police have recovered more than £1 million in cryptocurrency and cash from a deceased individual previously convicted of money laundering, in what the force described as its largest crypto seizure so far.
A UK court authorised the forfeiture of assets worth £1,032,487.86 under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The total included 20.21 BTC, other cryptoassets and cash held in a bank account, with police saying the funds were proceeds of unlawful conduct.
Court-approved seizure under POCA
According to the force, the forfeiture was granted after investigators linked the assets to criminal activity connected to the deceased owner’s earlier money laundering conviction. The court order covered Bitcoin, additional tokens and money in a bank account.
Police said the assets were recoverable under the Proceeds of Crime Act, which allows authorities to seize property judged to be the proceeds of unlawful conduct. In this case, the approved total came to £1,032,487.86.
Crypto traced to darknet marketplace activity
Investigators said specialist tracing methods were used to follow the digital assets and connect them to darknet marketplaces that operated between 2016 and 2019. The force did not say which marketplaces were involved, but said the tokens were linked to that period of activity.
The seizure included 20.21 BTC as well as other unnamed cryptoassets. Police also recovered cash from a bank account as part of the same action.
Largest crypto recovery for the force
Avon and Somerset Police described the case as its biggest cryptocurrency seizure to date. The force highlighted the scale of the recovery in the context of growing law enforcement use of digital asset tracing and forfeiture powers.
The case also stands out because it comes after authorities in the UK gained the ability in April 2024 to issue crypto wallet freezing orders. Under that regime, wallets can be frozen on the basis of reasonable suspicion of criminality rather than only after a conviction.
What happens to the recovered funds
The source article said money recovered through the Proceeds of Crime Act route is directed toward community and policing purposes. That includes education, early intervention efforts and crime prevention plans.
While the owner of the assets is deceased, the court’s forfeiture order settles the status of the seized funds in this case. Based on the information released so far, the confirmed outcome is that the assets have been authorised for forfeiture and counted as the force’s largest crypto seizure on record.
Source: Cryptopolitan