A total of £50million worth of assets belonging to two British nationals has been frozen following an unexplained wealth probe.
Following the order, eight vehicles worth £600,000, a £1.9m yacht, and a bank account of £2.6m were all seized.
The order was the second of its kind granted to the CPS since the power was introduced in 2018.
An investigation has been launched under the Proceeds of Crime Act to ascertain the origin of the money.
The anonymous pair and their associated companies have three months to prove they legally obtained the funds used to buy the items.
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If they fail to provide an adequate explanation or any response at all, they face the assets being permanently seized by the CPS under civil law without any need for a criminal conviction.
Chief Crown Prosecutor Adrian Foster said: ‘We have successfully obtained an Unexplained Wealth Order and Interim Property Freezing Order against two British nationals and their associated companies in the United Kingdom.
‘They are now legally required to prove how they obtained their wealth, or risk having their assets seized following an application by the CPS’s Civil Recovery Team.’
The wealth order was granted today by the High Court, with the case to return to the Royal Courts of Justice for a hearing regarding the anonymity of the couple, referred to only as Mr X and Ms X, within 28 days.
The pair are not convicted or charged with any criminal activity.
Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs), sometimes known as ‘McMafia laws’ named after the BBC crime drama series, were introduced in the Criminal Finances Act 2017.
The powers were first invoked within two weeks of coming into force in January 2018 to freeze £22m of assets belonging to Zamira Hajiyeva, the wife of former International Bank of Azerbaijan chairman and imprisoned fraudster Jahangir Hajiyev.
Her assets included a house in Knightsbridge and a golf club near Ascot.
In 2020, Leeds businessman Mansoor Mahmood Hussain was forced to give up a £10m portfolio of 45 properties after he was suspected of having laundered profits from crime bosses.
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