Gary Pons acted for the Metropolitan Police instructed by Bilal Chaudry in a successful application for a detention order in relation to a piece of Banksy artwork called the Falling Shopper (Shop Till You Drop).
The Falling Shopper was painted on the side of an office building in Bruton Lane Mayfair in 2011 and remained there until the building was demolished in 2023. Since then it has been recorded as lost.
The City of London Magistrates Court were satisfied that there were reasonable grounds to suspect that the Banksy artwork was recoverable property and they ordered its detention for six month to allow for an investigation into its derivation.
Gary Pons is a talented and dedicated barrister. Gary is fluent in Spanish. His approach to cases is distinguished by its careful preparation and measured execution. Gary is ranked in both Chambers and Partners (Band 1), and the Legal 500 (Tier 1) for his work in the field of POCA and Asset Forfeiture work. He is recognised in the Lexology Index for Criminal Fraud.
His experience in complex financial crime and asset forfeiture has allowed Gary to develop his practice over the years. Gary has experience of foreign criminal proceedings having been involved for many years with two high-profile cases in Costa Rica. He frequently advises on multi-jurisdictional asset recovery cases.
