LONDON (Reuters) -British authorities have seized rare dinosaur bones worth millions of pounds, as well as nine London apartments and a collection of Chinese art, from a Singapore-based businessman in a case to recover alleged proceeds of crime.
Fossilised skeletons of two Allosauruses and a Stegosaurus were among the assets seized by Britain’s National Crime Agency in a settlement agreed on Wednesday with Su Binghai and his company, Su Empire Limited, under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The act lets British authorities recover property deemed to have been acquired unlawfully, even without a criminal conviction. The NCA gave no details of the allegations that had given rise to the case involving Su.
The huge Jurassic dinosaur skeletons, around 150 million years old, had been bought at auction last year at Christie’s for 12.4 million pounds ($16.1 million). The auction house released photos of them at the time, resembling a display from a natural history museum.
The 11 Chinese artworks recovered in the case had been bought at auction in 2022 for over 400,000 pounds.
One quarter of the proceeds of the sale of the recovered assets will be paid into a bank account nominated by Su, according to a court order.
The NCA did not immediately comment. Reuters was not able to reach Su for comment.
($1 = 0.7451 pounds)
(Reporting by Sam TobinEditing by Muvija M and Peter Graff)
