Gary Pons

Gary Pons specialises in financial crime, civil fraud, asset forfeiture, sanctions, confiscation, and money laundering. His cases frequently involve complex international disputes.

Gary has acted in high-profile cases in Costa Rica, where his knowledge of Spanish criminal law allowed him to play an active part in the case.

Current/Recent instructions include:

Asplin v Das UK. An application for a certificate of inadequacy and variation of a restraint order concerning a £5m confiscation order which is the subject of two Court of Appeal judgments.

Netherlands v Baybasin where Gary acts for the receiver in a complex case involving competing confiscation proceedings in England and the Netherlands.

Junior counsel for the SFO in its enforcement of a confiscation order made against Gerald Smith in the sum of c. £40m. The case was described by Foxton J as “a dispute of labyrinthine complexity”.

Acted for the NCA in the recovery of gold weighing 104 kilos, which was found in the cargo section of a plane which had arrived from the Cayman Islands.

Acted for an authorised payment institution that was unable to access its safeguarding accounts holding in excess of £30m.

Represented a Ukrainian lawyer in her successful application to discharge an external restraint order made in relation to criminal proceedings in Ukraine.

Gary Pons is a direct access qualified barrister with a litigation extension to his practising certificate.

Editor of Mitchell Taylor and Talbot on Confiscation and the Proceeds of Crime.