London Properties, Country Hotel Seized in U.K. Laundering Probe

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. money laundering investigators recovered about 6 million pounds ($7.8 million) in assets, including a Bentley sedan, an upscale hotel and prime London properties, from three defendants who allegedly used a global web of accounts to hide their wealth.

It’s likely “that funds embezzled from the Russian state or from frauds committed in the U.K. were passed through these companies,” the National Crime Agency said in a statement Sunday, referring to companies incorporated in countries including the U.K., Russia, Austria, the U.S., Croatia, Seychelles and British Virgin Islands.

The network of more than 100 hundred bank accounts was uncovered during an eight-year probe that analyzed about 100,000 financial transactions, according to the agency.

In Croatia, two former directors of a company involved in the NCA case are under investigation for involvement in financial irregularities at Dinamo Zagreb soccer club, according to the statement.

Eleven properties will be handed over, including the White Horse Hotel and Brasserie in Romsey, near Southampton on Britain’s southwestern coast, and a 100,000-pound Bentley Mulsanne.

Under a court-backed accord, the defendants agreed to give up the assets in lieu of facing trial.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Czuczka in New York at aczuczka@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Nick Rigillo, Amy Teibel

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