Crypto Assets in Fraud & POCA: What Criminal Lawyers Need to Know in Practice

Introduction

Crypto assets now appear routinely in fraud and financial crime cases, yet many criminal practitioners remain uncertain about how such assets are treated within the framework of POCA 2002. While the technology underpinning crypto assets is often portrayed as complex or novel, the real difficulties in practice tend to arise from familiar confiscation issues: attribution, control, valuation, and enforcement.

Recent statutory developments have materially altered the landscape. Amendments to POCA have introduced crypto-specific powers for seizure, detention, freezing and forfeiture, together with mechanisms to address volatility and practical enforcement problems.

This session is designed for practitioners with an existing working knowledge of fraud and POCA who want a clear, practical understanding of how crypto assets are now approached in live criminal proceedings. Drawing on experience of substantial confiscation and asset recovery cases involving crypto assets, the focus will be on what actually matters in practice when these assets are identified, restrained, valued and pursued through confiscation.

The session will address common misconceptions, highlight where cases succeed or fail, and provide practical guidance on how to approach crypto assets without being distracted by unnecessary technical detail. Delegates will leave better equipped to engage effectively with investigators and experts, to identify the real issues arising in cases involving crypto assets and to avoid strategic and evidential pitfalls that can undermine POCA proceedings.

What You Will Learn

This live and interactive course will cover the following:

• How crypto assets are treated as property within the criminal justice system
• What criminal lawyers need to understand (and what they do not) about crypto technology
• Common fraud scenarios in which crypto assets arise and why they matter for POCA
• Attribution and control of crypto assets in criminal cases
• Recent statutory developments affecting crypto assets under POCA, including new seizure, detention, freezing and forfeiture powers
• Practical issues arising in restraint and confiscation proceedings involving crypto assets
• Valuation, benefit and realisable property problems specific to crypto holdings
• Enforcement challenges, including volatility and recovery failures, and how the legislation now seeks to address them
• A short comparative overview of how developments in the law of property underpin the criminal courts’ approach to crypto assets

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.