UK Seizes £12 Million in Dinosaur Bones for Settlement Linked to Singapore Laundering Case

British authorities have seized more than £12 million ($15.6 million) worth of fossilized dinosaur bones as part of a court-approved settlement with Chinese national Su Binghai, a suspect in a sprawling money-laundering scandal that has reverberated from Singapore to London, Bloomberg said.

Under the deal, Su agreed to forfeit three complete fossilized skeletons alongside nine London apartments purchased for about £15 million. He will retain 25% of the proceeds when the assets are sold, a lawyer for the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) told the court.

The settlement, described in an NCA order as a “full and final” resolution of claims, was approved at a hearing where Judge Gavin Mansfield, reflecting on the unusual cargo now in state custody, remarked: “I doubt that any of us will be dealing with one of these again,” Bloomberg reported.

The fossils, dated between 145 million and 157 million years old, were acquired at Christie’s “Jurassic Icons” auction in 2024. Eleven Chinese artifacts acquired via Sotheby’s were also forfeited, with the collection of works, including Ming-era vases and bronze swords, valued at roughly £400,000.

The case stems from an unexplained wealth order, a civil tool used more frequently by British agencies in recent years to force individuals to show how they acquired suspect assets, the news agency said.

Su had previously been sought by authorities in Singapore in connection with the city-state’s largest money-laundering case. An Interpol notice for his arrest was later dropped after he and his wife agreed to forfeit assets to Singapore’s government in a broader settlement that included multiple fugitives.

That crackdown saw cash, real estate, cryptocurrency and other holdings worth about S$3 billion seized, and 10 people of Chinese origin jailed last year. Two bankers were also sentenced in connection with the scandal, according to the report.