A lavish lifestyle

Former head of the notorious Adams family, Terry Adams, has just had his appeal against a compensation order of almost £700,000 quashed. Mr Adams said he had insufficient funds to pay a debt to the Government of £651,611 but a judge in the Court of Appeal said there was a strong case that the former gangster possessed “substantial undisclosed assets”, adding that she was not satisfied he had provided “full and candid disclosure”.

The crime boss had a confiscation order of £750,000 imposed in 2007 after he was jailed for seven years for conspiracy to conceal the proceeds of crime through money laundering. He paid off around £360,000 through the sale of his palatial house in Mill Hill but then stopped paying and then carried on a lavish lifestyle despite telling the authorities that he was virtually broke and “poncing off” his wife.

According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), at this point Mr Adams had an annual expenditure of £97,000 but Mr Adams described this as “ludicrous”, saying the visits to the opera, top restaurants, spa memberships, trips abroad and expensive treatments at private clinics had been paid for by family and friends.

At the original High Court hearing when the compensation order was first appealed, prosecutors claimed that Mr Adams had a “hidden reserve” of wealth, which allowed him and his wife to spend lavishly despite having no legitimate income.

In such cases, forensic accountants not only follow money transactions but watch spending patterns and match expenditure with lifestyle. They can then give evidence in court based on their investigation and wealth of experience in such matters.

Author: Roger Isaacs, 4 April 2017

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