On 10 November 2025, the Crown Court at Southwark made a confiscation order against Elie Taktouk, the ex-husband of Daniella Seaman, wife of Cesc Fabregas, in the amount of £1.3 million.
The confiscation order has now recently been paid in full, and from this, the private prosecutors have been paid £1.3 million in compensation. Mr Taktouk, despite having given evidence that his family was worth hundreds of millions, has taken 8 years since the commission of the crime to repay this amount to the victims of his fraud.
This matter was drawn out due to Mr Taktouk’s failure to accept responsibility for his fraud. Indeed, Mr Taktouk was convicted of 11 counts of fraud. Prior to that, Mr Taktouk was sentenced to prison for his contempt of court orders (July 2020), and his deliberate obstruction of investigation into his assets.
Evidence led in the trial identified that Mr Taktouk also had £576,040.00 worth of unrelated UK County Court judgements against him which remain outstanding to this day. Debtors have been unable to recoup monies owed by Mr Taktouk (aside from our client’s).
This case highlights the effectiveness of recovery in proceedings against determined fraudsters.
Background – the first confiscation order
In 2017, Edmonds Marshall McMahon were instructed to act on behalf of Benherst Finance Limited (“Benherst”) and Chestone Industry Holding (“Chestone”) (the private prosecutors), in respect of the private prosecution against Elie Joseph Taktouk (“the defendant”). The defendant was charged with 11 counts of fraud and forgery offences. The value of fraud was approximately £2.5 million, commencing from late 2014/early 2015 until 2017 when the fraud was uncovered.
The case involved a failed property redevelopment project run by Elie Taktouk who spent investor funds on his lavish lifestyle, including a highly publicized and acrimonious divorce from model Daniella Semaan (who famously remarried footballer, Cesc Fabregas).
EMM obtained an arrest warrant against Elie Taktouk and criminal proceedings began on 7 February 2019. Having identified that assets were at risk of dissipation, EMM applied for an all-assets worldwide restraint and disclosure order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Following non-compliance, further disclosure orders were sought. Elie Taktouk breached the restraint and ancillary disclosure orders and in 2020 was committed to prison for 7 months.
The criminal trial took place in Summer 2021 and Elie Taktouk was convicted on all 11 counts and sentenced to 7 years in prison. In his sentencing remarks His Honour Judge Milne KC noted that numerous judgments against Elie Taktouk remained unpaid and that this was likely not due to a lack of funds but because of a disregard for rules:
“During the course of this trial, it became evident from what was presented to the court that there were multiple County Court judgments against him by a range of claimants, all of which remained unsatisfied. This is not, I am quite sure, due to lack of funds. He spent more than these sums combined indulging himself with a Porsche motorcar in the course of the redevelopment. However, they were, in my view, simple further manifestations of disregard for the rules that he seems to think applies only to other people that one should pay bills and honour commitments made.”
The trial was reported in the Daily Mail on 3 August 2021. He later applied for leave to appeal both his conviction and sentence. These applications were refused as were his renewed applications for leave.[1]
The matter thereafter proceeded to confiscation and on 3 November 2023, a confiscation order was made in the amount of £4,549,965.29, of which £3,230,811.60 was to be paid in compensation to the private prosecutors. An imprisonment term in default was set at 8 years. Elie Taktouk, having served his time for the fraud offences, had not paid any amount to the confiscation order and his prison term in default was activated.
Elie Taktouk appealed the confiscation order and on 5 February 2025 the issue of available amount remitted back to Southwark Crown Court for redetermination on the basis that Elie Taktouk sought to adduce fresh evidence from his brother. The matter was reported in the Daily Mail on 5 February 2025 and 1 May 2025.
The Second Confiscation Proceedings
Elie Taktouk’s case was that his assets in Nigeria were beneficially due to him from his father’s will and were legally held by his brother, Dr Wassim Taktouk, as executor of the estate. He said that these amounted to less than the benefit amount. It was also his case that these assets would take a significant time to liquidate and repatriate to the UK. As such, his brother, having legal ownership of the assets, offered a legal charge over a London property. A confiscation order was thereafter agreed, in the amount of £1.3 million, ultimately approved and made by His Honour Judge Milne KC sitting at Southwark Crown Court. A prison term of 4 years was set in default of the order.
Successful Recovery
Recovering proceeds of crime from fraudsters can be immensely difficult. The latest asset recovery statistical bulletin[3] records that the value of confiscation order impositions in the financial year ending March 2024 was £307.9 million, yet only £128.5 million was recovered, falling by 28% compared to that which was recovered in the last financial year.
The value of confiscation order impositions has decreased again for the financial year ending March 2025, with £223.7 million of confiscation orders imposed. This is a decrease of 27%.
The Rise of Private Prosecutions
This case is significant because it illustrates a growing trend for private prosecutions to be brought by individuals, corporates and charities as state prosecutors continue to suffer from a lack of resources to investigate and prosecute complex fraud.
EMM are in the midst of confiscation proceedings to recover the proceeds of crime from convicted fraudster, Bakhtiar Abbasi against whom a confiscation order was made in the sum of £1.1m with a benefit figure of £43m, in addition to proceedings against Pritesh Shah, who remains in hiding in Kenya.
Edmonds Marshall McMahon is the UK’s leading private prosecution firm. It specialises in complex and high value fraud cases. This team was led by Kate McMahon (Partner), Jane Guthrie (Senior Associate) and Mai Holdom (Senior Associate). Kate McMahon has recently written about how to avoid becoming a victim of development fraud in Family Capital.
Contact: Mai Holdom, July 2026.
[1] Millionaire who paid for divorce with £2.5m scam after wife left for Cesc Fabregas loses freedom bid | Daily Mail Online
