Solicitors and other lawyers making the news. 1996
to present |
|
Also check:
The Serious Fraud Office publications about solicitors' involvement in
serious frauds |
|
Title and
description of item or excerpt. |
Links - the
full story |
Date posted
on UnjustIS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lawyer hid camera in ladies'
loo A solicitor has admitted
hiding a video camera inside a ladies' toilet cubicle and secretly filming
female staff. Stirling Sheriff Court heard that Peter Fitzpatrick, 49, put
the device into a cardboard box within the cubicle at law firm Muirhead
Buchanan in Stirling. The father-of-two, who has been a solicitor for 27
years, was caught after a secretary noticed a hole in the box was pointing
at the pedestal. Fitzpatrick, of Rutherglen, is due to be sentenced next
month. |
BBC |
09 Jun 2008 |
Crooked solicitor spent client
money on 'a Rolex, loose women and drink'
Three crooked members of a family
law firm who lived a life of luxury on £840,000 of clients' cash have been
thrown out of the profession. Imran, Saira and Shamim Karim were described
as "dangerous to the profession and the public" after they kept money from
property deals. Senior partner Imran Karim, 40, boasted five cars including
a Ferrari 335 Belinetta and a north London flat, all paid for by clients of
Karim and Co. |
Croydon Guardian |
09 Jun 2008 |
Convicted pedophile JP jailed
A magistrate from Croydon known
as "The Zoo Man" who trawled the internet for images of children being
sexually abused was today jailed for nine months. Zoologist Terry Mills, 58,
spent his days visiting primary schools showing children exotic reptiles and
his evenings building up a library of child pornography. He watched a film
entitled "German Blondie" and received emails marked "British Boys" and
"Busy at Both Ends", Southwark Crown Court heard. |
Croydon Guardian |
09 Jun 2008 |
Seven years for money
launderer A PROPERTY magnate
from Canons Park who laundered at least £13.8m with an Ealing lawyer has
been jailed for seven years. John Donnan, 52, of Watersfield Way, ran a
series of bogus companies with his solicitor, Gerard Hyde, 55, of Priory
Gardens, allowing friends to operate a 16-month VAT fraud. The firms
imported mobile phones tax free but sold them on with an extra 17.5 per cent
profit, which was then shared with Donnan and Hyde. |
Harrow Times |
24 May 2008 |
Struck off after spending
thousands on strippers A
LAWYER from Highgate has been kicked out of the profession after he blew
more than £200,000 of his firm's cash on strippers. Divorced father of three
Paul Saffron, 43, from Stanhope Road, raided the accounts of top law firm
Radcliffes Le Brasseur over more than three years. He spent most of the cash
on lap dancers in clubs across London. Colleagues at the 150-year-old law
firm called in the police when they discovered a £104,000 hole in the
accounts. Saffron insisted he was clinically depressed and had only spent
the money quickly so he would have no alternative but to kill himself out of
shame when he was discovered. But last Thursday, the Solicitors'
Disciplinary Tribunal ignored his pleas to be allowed to stay in the
profession. |
Hampstead & Highgate Expr |
15 May 2008 |
Burnley fraud lawyer ‘has lost
everything’ A SOLICITOR who
forged another lawyer's signature on a legal document has been thrown out of
the profession. Philip Lowe, 42, formerly of Low Bank, Burnley, signed
papers so the estate of a client could be handled quickly, the Solicitors'
Disciplinary Tribunal heard. When inspectors raided his firm they found he
had been using client's money for his own benefit by keeping the cash in his
own bank account. Lowe, who, the hearing was told, now sold paint for a
living, tried to stage a cover up by wrongly billing clients to balance his
books. He has now lost his family, his firm and his home because of his
dishonesty, the hearing was told. Lowe who ran his own firm in Main Street,
Cross Hills, Keig-hley, was cleared of fraud at a Bradford Crown Court trial
but admitted using a false ins-trument and was fined £515. Ian Ryan, for the
Law Society, told the hearing investigators found a £35,332 black hole' in
Lowe''s books when they raided the firm on July 4 2005. Money which should
have been paid into the client account had been deposited in the firm's
account which were controlled solely by Lowe. |
Burnley Citizen |
01 May 2008 |
Hetherington: Fox Hayes,
Abbey, Square Mile
Mrs K.C. writes: I read in
Financial Mail some time ago the result of the Financial Services & Markets
Tribunal hearing about solicitor Fox Hayes, but there has been no further
news. I foolishly invested practically all my money, about £60,000, in
shares sold by brokers represented by Fox Hayes. I have recovered only
£5,000. This has gone on for so long, I'm now almost giving up. I will be 93
in June.
"Leeds solicitor Fox Hayes, which
is licensed as an investment adviser by the Financial Services Authority,
stupidly and corruptly teamed up with a network of crooked boiler room share
peddlers. Throughout 2003 and 2004, Financial Mail repeatedly warned that
the firm was fronting for known tricksters posing as stockbrokers based in
Spain. Privately, I gave full details to Fox Hayes, proving that it was
lending its name to mailshots from firms run by people who would never in a
million years get a licence from the FSA, who did not have a licence from
Spain's financial watchdog, and who were selling shares so rotten that I'm
surprised anyone gave you as much as £5,000 for them..."It cannot be
right that a firm or an individual can commit an offence, pay a fine that is
less than victims have actually lost and then carry on as if nothing has
happened." |
This is Money |
13 Apr |
Lawyer who killed his wife is
released after just two years - and inherits £950,000 from her estate
A wealthy lawyer who killed his wife after she had an affair is set to
inherit nearly £1million from her will after being freed from jail.
Christopher Lumsden, 54, was said to have "snapped" after his wife Alison,
53, announced she was leaving him for a family friend. He attacked her at
their £1.4million mansion, slashing her on the face and neck with a knife so
badly a pathologist could not count the number of wounds she had suffered. |
This is London |
08 Apr 2008 |
Solicitor guilty of fraud
jailed A solicitor who stole
more than £1m from a disabled client has been jailed for 10 years at
Machester Crown Court. Thomas McGoldrick, 59, of Faulkners Lane, Mobberley,
Cheshire, lived a life of "extravagance" while taking the money from client
Keith Anderson. Mr Anderson, 45, from Croydon, had been awarded £1.8m after
he was severely injured in a road crash. Belfast-born McGoldrick was
convicted of 59 counts of fraud in February and was sentenced on Monday. He
was £1.4m in debt when his firm, who had practices called McGoldricks in
Altrincham, Greater Manchester and Croydon, took on Mr Anderson's case. |
BBC |
08 Apr 2008 |
Fiddling solicitor struck off
A SOLICITOR who took money from the dead for work he had not carried out has
been thrown out of the profession. Christopher Dudzinski, 49, of Dudzinski
and Partners, Butts Court, Leeds, claimed thousands of pounds from the
estates of late clients and ploughed the cash into his firm. Investigators
found he also told customers he was investing their money when in fact it
was being kept in the firm's accounts. Financial records were not properly
written up and an investigation in 2006 revealed a £25,975 'black hole' in
the client accounts. Dudzinski accepted he withdrew clients' money before he
billed them for his work, the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal in London
heard. "A large part of the shortfall, £21,230, was in respect of costs
transferred from client to office account in circumstances where bills had
not been delivered to the client," said Jonathan Goodwin, for the
Solicitors' Disciplinary Authority. Dudzinski was acting for the executors
of a will when he took £2,350 from the estate of a dead man after his
affairs had been completed. When questioned, the lawyer said he thought he
deserved more for the work done previously. |
Yorkshire Evening Post |
01 Apr 2008 |
Seven years jail for lawyer
who siphoned £900,000 from wills to feather his nest
A crooked lawyer has been jailed for seven years after he looted £900,000
from wills and cash meant for charity so he could send his children to
public school, stock up with vintage wines and drive a classic sports car.
In the course of 28 years, Michael Wright, now 66, doubled or trebled his
actual salary. He set up seven false identities to channel the money from
wills and had the power to sign cheques paying legacies to their bank
accounts. When families complained or became suspicious he simply stole from
other estates to pay them what they were owed, Exeter Crown Court was told.
The lawyer, officially on £29,000 a year, was caught when his employers,
solicitors Harold Mitchelmore of Newton Abbot, Devon, introduced a new audit
system. |
Daily Mail |
20 Mar 2008 |
Couple stripped of £5million
A Weybridge solicitor and his wife have been stripped of £5.3million of
criminal assets hidden overseas. The Assets Recovery Agency was granted a
High Court order to take the money from John and Susan Ann Szepietowski of
Ashford House, Four Winds Park, St George's Hill, following an investigation
prompted by a separate drugs trafficking and money laundering probe by
Surrey Police. The ARA alleged the Szepietowskis had amassed a large
property portfolio through fraudulent mortgage claims and the laundering of
rental income through offshore accounts. It also alleged that the
Szepietowskis benefited from a phoenix fraud scam, involving the publishing
of adult magazines, and that their lavish lifestyle greatly exceeded their
known legitimate income. Solicitor Mr Szepietowski and his former building
society manager wife entered negotiations with the ARA in October last year. |
Wimbledon Guardian |
17 Mar 2008 |
Crooked veteran solicitor
struck off A CROOKED solicitor
took almost £100,000 from bereaved clients and used the cash to pay her tax
bill, a hearing was told. University of Huddersfield law lecturer Lorraine
Miers, 49, blamed her cheating husband for financial difficulties when he
had an affair with her student, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard.
Yesterday she was struck off and ordered to pay costs of £10,000. |
Yorkshire Evening Post |
14 Mar 2008 |
McGoldrick investigated before
A LAWYER who stole more than £1m
from a disabled man to feed his champagne lifestyle was investigated for
financial irregularities more than ten years ago, the M.E.N. reveal. `Bent'
solicitor Thomas McGoldrick, 59, was described by police as `shameless,
selfish, greedy and calculating' after being found guilty of false
accounting, money laundering, forgery and obtaining pecuniary advantage by
deception. He stole the money from Keith Anderson who had been awarded £1.8
million damages as a result of a road accident which left him paralysed from
the chest down. And McGoldrick, who lives in a luxury home in Mobberley,
Cheshire, was only caught when Mr Anderson had £200 left and the Law Society
called in the police to investigate...In 1997 he was criticised by the Law
Society after more than £40,000 went missing from a client's account.
This was followed by a series of other misdemeanours relating to his
accounts and the financial management of his firm, but despite serious
concerns, the Law Society allowed him to continue practising as a lawyer
until 2004. (The Law Society is no more than a corrupt gangsters' union.UJ) |
Manchester Evening News |
23 Feb 2008 |
Solicitor guilty of £1.2m
fraud A solicitor who conned
more than £1m from a disabled client has been found guilty of fraud.
Thomas McGoldrick, 59, of Faulkners Lane, Mobberley, Cheshire, had denied
the charges at Manchester Crown Court. The court heard he lived a life of
"extravagance" while taking the money from client Keith Anderson. Mr
Anderson, 45, of Croydon, had been awarded £1.8m following a crash which
left him paralysed but McGoldrick claimed he had "gifted" him the money. Mr
Anderson was paid damages after the accident in Croydon in November 1996,
which left him paralysed from the chest down. The solicitor, who had
practices called McGoldricks in Altrincham, Greater Manchester and Croydon,
went on to take about £1.2m of the cash. |
BBC |
22 Feb 2008 |
Solicitor cleared of fraud but
admits forgery A bankrupt
solicitor faces being struck off after he was convicted of forgery. A jury
at Bradford Crown Court acquitted 42-year-old Philip Lowe on two charges of
conspiracy to defraud in connection with a property scam after more than
five hours of deliberation yesterday. But he had admitted forging a
signature on a document before the start of the trial. The prosecution had
alleged that Lowe had been part of a plot, which also involved five other
people, to cheat owners out of properties in Rooley Lane, Bradford, and
Eastburn, near Keighley. |
Telegraph & Argus |
17 Nov 2007 |
Solicitor gets two years for
fraud A disgraced Merseyside
solicitor has been jailed for two years for his involvement in a £1.5
million “advance fee” fraud. David Sasson made £250,000 from the fraud,
Liverpool Crown Court heard. Sasson had been struck-off after admitting
stealing from his employers. His father-in-law got him a job with Carl
Montlake and his business partner in 1993, working as an underwriter. Based
in Bury New Road, Manchester, Alliance International Ventures was set up in
1997 and, according to prosecutor Jonathan Turner QC, was “a fraud from the
outset”. He added: “Its business was ostensibly to offer funding to foreign
applicants looking to raise finance for business projects abroad. “The truth
is, and always was, that Alliance had no money at all. Notwithstanding their
total lack of funds, Alliance began to offer overseas customers sums of
anything between $500,000 and $120,000,000.” |
Jewish Chronicle |
02 Nov 2007 |
High-life solicitor, Thomas
Byrne, goes on the run as mortgage ‘scam’ comes to light
They were the epitome of the Celtic Tiger economic boom, enjoying to the
full their good fortune and wealth with money lavished on expensive cars,
exclusive homes and fine dining. Now one is on the run and the other has had
his assets frozen as the banks and courts go after two high-profile
solicitors with debts of more than £50 million. Ireland has never seen a
legal scandal like it, with one newspaper describing the fate of Michael
Lynn and Thomas Byrne as “a cautionary tale about the inevitable
consequences of the greed, arrogance and recklessness that fuelled the
Celtic Tiger”. |
Times Online |
27 Oct 2007 |
CROOKED LAWYER SPARED JAIL TO
CARE FOR SON A Solicitor who
falsely claimed more than £4,000 in overtime and asked clients to write
cheques out to his personal account has been spared jail. Judge David Price
told David York that his actions were a breach of trust, but did not jail
him because he helps to care for his autistic son. He was sentenced to 12
months in prison, suspended for two years. York worked at Pyms Solicitors in
Bridge Street, Belper, on civil court cases. |
Derbyshire Evening Telegraph |
16 Oct 2007 |
False claim solicitor
disciplined A solicitor has
been found guilty of professional misconduct for making fake and inflated
legal aid claims. Paul Kirk, 48, from Uddingston, South Lanarkshire, made
thousands of pounds by double-charging and claiming false expenses. The
Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal, who looked at the case, fined Kirk
the maximum of £10,000. However, because he was no longer registered as a
praticising solicitor it could take no further action. The disciplinary
tribunal said it lacked the power to properly discipline the lawyer. It
wants legislation which would create tougher penalties for rogue solicitors. |
BBC |
10 Oct 2007 |
Solicitor in Ledward abuse
case struck off A solicitor
who left clients owing thousands in costs after a group damages claim
against former gynaecologist Dr Rodney Ledward collapsed was struck off
today. Jane Loveday represented more than 50 women who claim they had been
sexually assaulted by the consultant gynaecologist, who was barred from
practicing medicine in 1998. A subsequent claim for damages brought against
Dr Ledward’s former NHS trust, spearheaded by Mrs Loveday, was dropped in
2004 after legal aid was withdrawn, a solicitor’s disciplinary tribunal was
told. |
Times Online |
10 Oct 2007 |
Tadley solicitor handed
six-month jail term for scamming banks and building societies
A TADLEY solicitor has been jailed for his part in a mortgage scam. Robert
Stober, aged 68, of Silchester Road, Tadley, was handed a six-month jail
term at Winchester Crown Court last Thursday, July 19. Also in the dock was
businessman Douglas Caffell, aged 42, of Long Lane, Shaw, who received a
suspended sentence. In February this year, ringleader Phillip Carter, aged
41, of The Green, Silchester, admitted four counts of false accounting, five
counts of conspiracy to defraud and three counts of obtaining money transfer
by deception. The court heard Carter had tried to re-mortgage property
without declaring his exisiting mortgages and loans. Several banks and
building societies fell foul of his scam. |
Newbury Today |
27 Jul 2007 |
SOLICITOR IS JAILED FOR CHEQUE
FRAUD A Plymouth-based
solicitor has been jailed for two years for fiddling cheques and expenses
totalling £19,000. Priya Prashar, aged 29, of Trobridges, doctored cheques
to make them payable to her own bank account while working for another firm
in London. She denied the charges but was found guilty after a trial of
false accounting, theft and perverting the course of justice. Prashar, who
gave her address as Harrow in West London, moved to the Mutley-based firm
two years ago after the offences were committed in 2003 and 2004. But
Trobridges partner Tim Waine said that the firm only became aware of the
allegations about nine months ago. |
The Herald Plymouth |
18 Jul 2007 |
TV 'sting' solicitor struck
off A solicitor filmed in a TV
"sting" giving advice to an undercover journalist on how to stop witnesses
testifying has been struck off. David Lancaster, 57, from Havant, Hampshire,
was taken off the solicitors' roll at a Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal on
Thursday. Lancaster was jailed for three years in October for inciting the
reporter to pervert the course of justice. |
BBC |
06 Jul 2007 |
Law firm fights FSA over
‘boiler rooms’ The Financial
Services Authority (FSA) is locked in a court battle with a prominent firm
of solicitors that it wants to fine £150,000 for alleged offences involving
overseas “boiler rooms”. Alleged regulatory breaches by Fox Hayes, a Leeds
law firm, helped five boiler room firms to target more than a thousand UK
investors, who lost almost $21 million in 2003 and 2004, according to court
documents. Fox Hayes approved 34 financial promotions by boiler room firms,
the FSA argues, and carried on in the face of numerous warning signs that
their customers were not being treated fairly. Fox Hayes began its challenge
yesterday in the Financial Services & Markets Tribunal, which is essentially
a court of appeal for FSA enforcement decisions. (Updated news item
31 October 2007. UJ) |
Times Online |
06 Jun 2007 |
Boiler room victim is 91
Mrs K.C. writes: I am so ashamed I hardly feel able to tell you about my
utter stupidity. Stockbroker Tresaderns in Madrid persuaded me to invest in
Satellite Enterprise Corp and later Military Communications Technologies. As
I was paying through solicitors Fox Hayes in Leeds, I felt secure. I made
other investments too. However, a letter from Tresaderns told me they were
no longer in business. At 91, I am struggling... You were fleeced. Almost
all the shares you bought were in tiny American companies with little or no
track record. The shares were so high-risk that legally they could not be
sold to ordinary Americans. Yet Tresaderns was happy to sell them and Fox
Hayes was happy to accept your cash.(Updated news item
31 October 2007. UJ) |
This is Money |
04 Jun 2007 |
Solicitor's life in tatters
after she admits stealing £1,300 from law firm
A YOUNG solicitor yesterday admitted stealing cash from her employer. Zosia
Fraser, 29, was considered a promising lawyer with excellent prospects until
her dishonesty came to light. She was subsequently sacked from her position
with a Scottish law firm amid claims she was caught charging clients upfront
cash payments that she then pocketed for herself. |
The Scotsman |
12 May 2007 |
FSA bankrupts boiler room scam
lawyer Solicitor Adrian Sam
has been made bankrupt by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) after his
law firm Adrian Sam & Co (ASC) assisted an illegal overseas boiler room
scam. The FSA took the action after ASC and the firm's former partner John
Martin failed to comply with a Court of Appeal ruling in 2005 that ordered
the law firm to pay £360,000 to 63 investors to whom it helped peddle
cut-price shares as part of the scam. Jonathan Phelan, the FSA's head of
retail enforcement, said: "This case is a warning to others who act as a UK
front for boiler rooms that the FSA will use its full powers against them
where possible to recover losses for the victims of their illegal
activities." |
The Lawyer |
29 Mar 2007 |
Shamed cash solicitor struck
off A FORMER Ipswich solicitor
who siphoned off nearly £27,400 of a client's money, is in disgrace today
after being struck off. The Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal found Keith
Croft improperly transferred the funds into his firm's account after telling
a colleague he might keep the money left over from a French holiday home
purchase. Croft, a solicitor since 1983 and sole principal of Riddell Croft
and Co in St Helen's Street, was alleged to have breached the Solicitors
Accounts Rules 1998, although he did not attend the tribunal. |
Evening Star |
22 Feb 2007 |
Lawyer banned from legal aid
work A law firm which earned
more than £400,000 in legal aid last year has been barred from further work
in the field, officials have said. The move follows an investigation into
the firm, Robert Taylor Solicitors of Bath Street in Glasgow. The Scottish
Legal Aid Board said it had removed the firm from its register of criminal
legal aid lawyers. "The firm and solicitor cannot provide criminal legal aid
or criminal advice and assistance," said the board. Last year the firm's
legal aid earnings totalled £409,300. In November last year, the Daily
Record reported heroin users were paid in £5 notes to sign legal aid
documents. |
BBC |
07 Feb 2007 |
Solicitor admits theft
A FORMER solicitor who lost £250,000 through his business and a property
deal admitted theft and criminal damage when he appeared at Worcester Crown
Court. Andrew Dutton, aged 61, of Longmead Chambers, Birtsmorton, was said
to be penniless and eking out his £100-a-week benefit by offering legal
advice on a website. Giving him a two-year conditional discharge, Judge John
Cavell told him: "It's tragic to see a man of your professional background
standing in the dock at crown court over what is a civil dispute. You
behaved extremely stupidly." |
Malvern Gazette |
26 Jan 2007 |
Lawyer 'planned sex with
child' A solicitor has been
ordered to do 180 hours community service after asking a prostitute to
arrange sex for him with a mother and an underage girl. Glasgow Sheriff
Court heard how Ian Donnelly had sneaked away from his office for the
encounter, but the vice girl called police and he was arrested. Officers
later found child pornography on Donnelly's home computer. Donnelly, 43, who
had admitted a number of charges, was also put on the sex offenders'
register for three years. The personal injury solicitor, who worked for
Lloyd Green in the city's Cadogan Square, was also placed on probation for
three years and ordered to take part in counselling. (Unlikely to be struck
off, though. UJ) |
BBC |
25 Jan 2007 |
Solicitor jailed for £100k
theft A solicitor has been
jailed for stealing almost £100,000 from clients to compensate others he had
failed. Jeremy Langworthy, 48, of Abergavenny, admitted taking money from
accounts to make up "acceptable" compensation sums for other clients.
Prosecutor Michael Mather-Lees told Merthyr Crown Court: "Langworthy was
effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul." He was jailed for 18 months after
admitting seven charges of theft totalling £99,400 and one of forgery. |
BBC |
16 Jan 2007 |
Solicitor who drew up his
mother’s will to inherit her fortune defeated in court
A Borehamwood solicitor drew up his mother's will without her knowledge or
approval' in order to inherit part of her large estate, a High Court judge
has ruled. Morley Franks, 63, a partner in Turner & Debenhams, in Shenley
Road, had hoped to prove a will he drew up in 1994 was valid, but Mr Justice
David Richards said the solicitor was not a witness on whose evidence I can
rely' and not telling the truth'. Mr Franks has been practising in
Borehamwood since 1978, first as a partner in Measures Franks & Co until
2004, then when it merged with Turner & Debenhams. He specialises in wills
and probate laws. This week, his firm refused to comment on his position
following the judgement, which took place at the High Court in December. |
This is Hertfordshire |
11 Jan 2007 |
Ex-lawyer goes bankrupt
A former Shrewsbury lawyer who was struck off for pocketing a client’s cash
has declared himself bankrupt. Stephen Morecroft was ordered to pay
£22,885.42 in costs by a Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal in May. The
hearing was told Mr Morecroft was given £10,897.06 by a client for a deposit
on a new home to be bought off-plan. In November 2005 the Law Society
intervened in his firm, Morecroft and Co, in Barker Street, Shrewsbury, and
officials discovered the firm’s accounts held only £1,194. The tribunal
struck off Morecroft after finding a string of allegations, which included
accounts rule breaches and failing to act in the best interests of clients,
proved against him. |
Shropshire Star |
09 Jan 2007 |
Solicitor struck off for lying
to bosses
A newly-qualified solicitor who
admitted lying to cover up a basic legal blunder just weeks after becoming a
lawyer has been struck off. Michael Hopkins, 43, misled his bosses at
Inghams, based in Winckley Square, Preston, to avoid exposing his error in
exchanging contracts too early on a property transaction for a client. |
Lancashire Evening Post |
19 Dec 2006 |
Carousel fraud four jailed
Four men have been jailed for a total of 57 years for running an elaborate
VAT fraud that cheated taxpayers out of £10 million. The scam, which centred
on the trading activities of a Scottish company called Virgini Ltd, involved
making false VAT claims for mobile phones that were supposedly being
imported into the UK and exported to Ukraine. In fact, there was no evidence
the phones ever existed. Director
Durgesh Mehta, 51, was jailed for a total of 33 years after being convicted
of cheating the public revenue, money laundering, and conspiracy to transfer
criminal property under the Proceeds of Crime Act. His sentences will run
concurrently. The wealthy solicitor lived in the stockbroker belt
village of Chalfont St Peter, in Buckinghamshire, and commuted weekly to
Scotland. His three accomplices - Gerald Reardon, 55, from Kent, Matthew
Sharman, 43 from Essex, and Peter Ratcliff, 54, from Surrey - each received
eight year prison sentences for laundering the proceeds through offshore
companies. |
Telegraph |
28 Oct 2006 |
Solicitor raided couple's
account of £100,000 A Golders
Green solicitor has been 'struck off' after stealing more than £100,000 from
clients. Winston Jesiah Held, 64, of Sinclair Grove, cleared the account of
an unnamed couple he was advising about selling their house, an industrial
tribunal heard. Held worked as a consultant at Jay Benning and Peltz and
Talbot Creggy in Marylebone. |
Hampstead & Highgate Times |
24 Oct 2006 |
Dishonest lawyer struck off
A crooked lawyer from Preston built up a property portfolio by taking more
than £239,000 from clients, including First World War veterans, a tribunal
heard. Ian Desmond, the 53-year-old former chief executive of the Lancashire
law firm Marsdens, misappropriated the money to buy houses. The Solicitors'
Disciplinary Tribunal struck off Desmond, of Mallowdale, Fulwood, after
hearing details of "the most appalling dishonesty". |
Preston Today |
19 Oct 2006 |
Solicitor jailed after BBC
reporter's sting A Havant
solicitor targeted by a "TV sting" has been jailed for three years. David
Lancaster, 56, from Harbourside, was convicted of inventing stories to get a
man off a drugs supply offence - unaware that he was an investigative
reporter telling him a cover tale. Lancaster was told by Judge Graham Cottle
at Exeter Crown Court: "You broke every rule in the book in a breatttaking
display of unprofessional conduct."..."The judge told Lancaster the British
criminal justice system is held up as a model of fairness and good practice,
and in order to maintain that reputation it is of paramount importance that
professionals involved in the system behave at all times with honesty and
integrity." |
Press Gazette
See also:
Times Online
And:
BBC |
18 Oct 2006 |
Solicitor jailed for helping
gunman A solicitor was jailed
for a year at the Old Bailey today for smuggling a letter out of Belmarsh
jail to help a gunman accused of shooting a trial witness. Maya Devani, a
former member of law firm Arani & Co, which defended the radical cleric Abu
Hamza, was convicted earlier this year of attempting to pervert the course
of justice. Her client, Timothy Merchant, was found guilty of two charges of
attempted murder and perverting the course of justice and was jailed today
for 18 years. Devani was told by Judge Paul Focke: "The authorities need to
be able to trust and rely on the integrity of solicitors. You let them
down." |
Times Online |
30 Sep 2006 |
27 months for lawyer who
robbed 'friend' of £70,000 HE
was once a successful and well- connected lawyer, a city councillor and a
man tipped to be a future Westminster MP. But yesterday, the political
aspirations of Iain Catto were ended forever when he was jailed for 27
months for stealing £70,000 from a disabled client, who depended upon him as
a close friend. Catto took the money over two years from December 2002 to
maintain his lifestyle of foreign travel and exclusive restaurants after
losing his job as a solicitor. He now faces a hearing before the independent
Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal, where he could be struck off. |
The Scotsman |
27 Sep 2006 |
Jailed ex-solicitor loses
Citizens Advice Bureau job A
THIEVING solicitor who was working as a Citizens Advice Bureau adviser while
serving a five-year prison sentence has had his contract terminated. The CAB
announcement was made the day after the Lancashire Telegraph revealed that
convicted conman Philip Pressler, formerly of Higher Whittlestone Farm,
Darwen, was being allowed to give advice to members of the public who knew
nothing of his past. |
Lancashire Telegraph |
14 Sep 2006 |
Crooked solicitor's jail
sentence A CORRUPT solicitor
has been jailed for two years after a £300,000 scam was uncovered. Mark
Kerruish, 40, massively over-billed clients, some of them dead, while he was
the senior partner running Fielding and Co in Chorlton-cum-Hardy and Cheadle
Hulme. |
IC Cheshire |
14 Sep 2006 |
Crook solicitor stole £70,000
from helpless disabled client
A MAN once seen as a potential future Tory leader in the Lothians has
admitted stealing £70,000 from a disabled man. Former Conservative
councillor for Prestonfield and Mayfield, Iain Catto, 41, who is also a
former solicitor, pretended to care for Francis Fleming after he became
partially paralysed. Catto, an elected member from 1990 to 1994, had
pretended to be a close friend of Mr Fleming, 59, and volunteered to pay his
bills and organise his life. But he was regularly withdrawing sums up to
£15,000 a time from his client's accounts to fund his own lavish lifestyle.
He even sold some of his victim's shares. |
The Scotsman |
23 Aug 2006 |
Lawyer forged contract and
then lied to tribunal
Temporarily removed 29 Aug |
Bournemouth Echo |
14 Aug 2006 |
Budding lawyer’s £100k bank
fraud Most budding legal
eagles have a grasp of what they can possibly get away with within the
bounds of the law. But when law student Andrew Curzon received a cheque for
more than £100,000 that had been sent to his address by mistake, he did not
bank on being caught trying to deposit the money in his own account. Curzon,
19, of Lingfield Road, Wimbledon, wrongly received a Bank of Scotland cheque
for £117,533 in the post. It was made out to his elderly neighbour as a
payment from a pension fund that had matured. But instead of returning it to
its rightful owner, the teenager wrote his name over the pensioner's, went
into the Wimbledon Village branch of NatWest and asked staff to put the sum
in his bank account. (Start as you mean to carry on. UJ) |
This is Hertfordshire |
03 Aug 2006 |
Lawyer claimed he was
solicitor A LAWYER who made a
legal blunder faces being struck off unless he removes his own name from the
profession's official register, a hearing has heard. Adrian Cole, 63, landed
himself in trouble after his name appeared on official notepaper claiming he
was a solicitor when he did not have a practicing certificate. An enquiry
heard on Tuesday that Mr Cole had not held a valid licence to work as a
solicitor since he was suspended for 12 months in 1999 for a number of
serious legal errors. But Gerald Lynch, for the Law Society, said that Mr
Cole had sent a fax in November 2003 to Eversheds in Cardiff on behalf of a
former colleague on paper headed 'Adrian E Cole solicitor'. |
East Anglian Daily Press |
02 Aug 2006 |
Solicitors
face tough drive over competence
HUNDREDS of secret disciplinary hearings held each year against solicitors
are expected to go public, in a drive to rid the profession of poor
standards and dishonesty. At the same time, solicitors could face regular
“MoT” tests in the shape of competence checks — to ensure, in the vogue
words of the Home Secretary, that they are “fit for purpose”..."Last year,
of 594 adjudications held after a complaint about a solicitor, the society
made 222 decisions to reprimand or severely reprimand 139 solicitors. The
more serious cases, where conditions are attached to a solicitor’s
practising certificate, are already made public to people who inquire." (It
just ain't gonna happen. UJ) |
Times Online |
01 Aug 2006 |
Church organ solicitor jailed
A solicitor who played the organ in his local church was jailed for three
months on money laundering charges today. Brian Dougan, 49, of Northern
Ireland, allowed £66,000 to pass through his client account while carrying
out conveyancing work for a convicted criminal. Dougan, who has been asked
to stand down from his position as a church elder, did not initially realise
the cash came from a criminal source, but continued with the work even when
he became suspicious..."Sir Stephen Lander told the Law
Society Gazette that a "bent solicitor" was a "heaven-sent opportunity"
for money launderers. "There are not a lot of dodgy lawyers in percentage
terms, but a significant number are struck off for dishonesty. A bent
solicitor is a very important asset to a criminal gang – the client account
is a heaven-sent opportunity for money launderers to turn cash into
legitimate assets," he said." |
Times Online |
24 Jul 2006 |
Shamed
solicitor stripped of assets
A SHAMED solicitor who created a fantasy client to fund his luxury lifestyle
has been stripped of £426,414 of his assets. Silver-haired Ian Macfarlane,
46, who has been struck off the solicitors' register, used his ill-gotten
gains to pay for exotic holidays, school fees for his two children, property
investments and his own tax bill. Currently serving a three year and nine
month jail sentence, Macfarlane admitted 26 theft offences and asked for a
further 137 similar charges to be taken into consideration, involving over
£800,000. |
Dorset Echo |
01 Jul 2006 |
Solicitor jailed for sale link
A Shrewsbury solicitor has been jailed for 15 months for money laundering
after he carried out legal work on the purchase of a house from two drug
dealers. Phillip John Griffiths, of Emstrey Lodge, was convicted of turning
a blind eye to the purchase of a house in Birmingham by estate agent Leslie
Dennis Pattison for £43,000 — a third of the property’s value. A jury at
Warwick Crown Court yesterday convicted the 44-year-old solicitor of
entering into or becoming involved in a money laundering arrangement.
Correction 21 June 2006:Solicitor jailing
"We have been asked to point out that Shrewsbury solicitor Phillip John
Griffiths was cleared of entering into or becoming involved in a money
laundering arrangement during a recent court case. The 44-year-old, of
Emstrey Lodge, was convicted of failing to make a ‘required disclosure’ to
the authorities about a house sale when, as a solicitor, he knew or
suspected or had reasonable grounds for knowing or suspecting money
laundering was taking place. He was jailed for 15 months by Judge Marten
Coates following a two-week trial at Warwick Crown Court." |
Shropshire Star - link removed.
Correction |
20 Jun 2006 |
Solicitor stole from clients
A Solicitor was jailed yesterday for stealing £140,000 from his clients to
fund a failing second business. Richard Dawson, 54, put clients of Dawson's
Solicitors in "financial hardship" while he poured their money into his new
business. |
IC Wales |
08 Jun 2006 |
FRAUD: Con pair face ruin
A COUPLE are today facing ruin and the loss of their home after a pair of
smiling swindlers stole £90,000 from their business. Engaged couple Tracey
Holdsworth (42) and Mark Jackson (50) were facing problems with their
electrical firm when they fell for the charm of Michael Brandon, who said he
had the financial know-how to turn things around.They little suspected that
the conman, and his partner Simon Rutledge, would bleed them dry and leave
them in despair. Today, the only consolation for Tracey and Mark, of
Dunsberry, Bretton, Peterborough, is that they were not the only victims of
the conmen's convincing story of business acumen. They can also take comfort
from the fact that glib-talking Brandon, who admitted 16 counts of obtaining
£250,000 from his victims by deception has been sent to prison for three and
a half years. His cohort, Rutledge, a disbarred solicitor, has been ordered
to do 240 hours of community work for his part in profiting from the misery
of others. |
Peterborough Today |
30 May 2006 |
Town lawyer is struck off
A dishonest Shrewsbury solicitor
who pocketed nearly £10,000 of a client’s cash entrusted to him for a house
purchase has been struck off. Stephen Morecroft, of Battlefield Road, also
forged vendors’ signatures on documents and tried to trick a hospital into
handing over confidential records. |
Shropshire Star |
26 May 2006 |
Solicitor who stole £1.3m gets
7 years jail
A greedy solicitor who stole
nearly £1.3 million from clients' accounts to live a life of luxury was
today jailed for seven years. Timothy Miles, 45, a former chairman of his
local Round Table, paid off the mortgage on the family home in Uxbridge and
then bought himself a luxury flat in Gerrards Cross which he furnished
opulently when his marriage broke up. He also bought a Jaguar car. He
admitted 13 charges of theft and one of forgery of two wills over a four
year period until a routine audit while he was on holiday led to his arrest.
Miles, a salaried partner in the Uxbridge firm of Bird and Lovibond which he
joined in 1994, earning up to £60,000 a year, dealt with conveyancing, wills
and probate, said counsel. |
LSE |
26 May 2006 |
Solicitor admits money
laundering A solicitor from
County Armagh has pleaded guilty to involvement in money laundering at a
Liverpool Court. Brian Dougan, 48, from Brootally Road, Milford, admitted
using his firm's business account to handle money from a red diesel money
laundering scam. |
BBC |
23 May 2006 |
Solicitor struck off for
£350,000 mortgage fraud A
Flitwick solicitor who dishonestly misappropriated more than £350,000 of
clients' money to help a crooked property dealer was thrown out of the
profession on Tuesday. Linda Collier, 45, of Glebe Avenue, handed over an
initial £141,850 entrusted to her by a mortgage company to a businessman who
claimed he needed the funds to finance a string of home deals. The client,
referred to as Mr B, promised he would pay back the money on Collier's
return from a holiday to Luton law firm Churchman Thacker, where she was a
partner. |
Bedford Today |
06 May 2006 |
Solicitor is guilty of
misconduct A DITHERING
solicitor who allowed a house to fall into ruin has been found guilty of
professional misconduct. The Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal heard
William Rennie, 53, of Kilmarnock, was asked to deal with the estate of a
couple who died just weeks apart, without leaving wills. |
Glasgow Evening Times |
27 Apr 2006 |
Misconduct solicitor struck
off A Newton Stewart solicitor
has been struck off after being found guilty of 15 counts of professional
misconduct. Nicholas McCormick, 47, who traded out of offices at 28 Victoria
Street, was found guilty by a Law Society discipline tribunal. It found that
he had breached a catalogue of rules and ignored complaints made against him
by clients. |
BBC |
27Apr 2006 |
Clerk used client's cash
A CROOKED solicitors clerk from
Banbury paid off £4,000 of customers' debt with cash taken from other
clients, a misconduct hearing was told. Elizabeth Gough pretended she had
recovered the money owed to the clients in court judgements when in fact she
had simply taken it from another account. In one case Gough paid out £1,886
and in another £2,000 was sent to trusting clients using others customer's
money, the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal heard. Bosses at Blake Lapthorn
Linnell, in Westway, Oxford, put her on extended leave in January 2004 to
investigate the cases when they discovered there was a problem. |
This is Oxfordshire |
21 Apr 2006 |
Tribunal upholds FSA case
against solicitor The
Financial Services and Markets Tribunal has upheld a Financial Services
Authority (FSA) case against Allen Phillip Elliott after finding that he is
not fit and proper to work in any part of the UK's regulated financial
services industry. The Tribunal stated that Mr Elliott's history shows that
"he is not able and willing to comply with requirements placed on him by
professional rules and obligations" and that he was not open and honest in
his dealings with regulators. The Tribunal found that Mr Elliott "poses a
risk to the protection of consumers and a risk to the reputation of the
market" and it concluded that a Prohibition Order was necessary "in order to
protect consumers from risk and … to maintain market confidence." Mr Elliott
is not authorised by the FSA, but he operates an unregulated mortgage
investment scheme through his company FMD Trustees Plc. He obtains client
referrals and introductions from authorised financial advisers who may be
unaware of his history. (Follow link, right, for full text) |
Financial Services Authority |
05 Apr 2006 |
Solicitor struck off
A solicitor who stole money from the dead and disabled has been kicked out
of the legal profession. Nicholas Pounder, 47, plundered the estates of dead
clients to pay off a car loan and went on a luxury holiday to Spain on money
belonging to a disabled man. The solicitors' disciplinary tribunal in London
heard how Pounder, a former partner in David and Snape, Wyndham Street,
Bridgend, stole more than £168,000 over six years, creating bogus letters to
cover his tracks. |
IC Wales |
16 Mar 2006 |
Norfolk solicitor suspended
A Norfolk solicitor who agreed to falsify a lie detector test in order to
help a client blow the lid on a steamy love affair was yesterday suspended
for two years. Trevor Beckford, 53, of Hall Road, Thurton, near Loddon, was
found guilty at a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal hearing in London of
involvement in the bizarre scheme to expose a love cheat, and was warned
that any further misconduct would result in him being struck off.
(Solicitors also fail
lie
detector tests. UJ) |
Eastern Daily Press |
15 Mar 2006 |
Former solicitor jailed for
theft A former Anglesey
solicitor who stole £143,000 from clients has been jailed for two-and-a-half
years. Stephen Puleston Williams, 50, from Holyhead, stole the money from
clients over a three-year period. He admitted theft and forgery at Chester
Crown Court before being sentenced on Tuesday. |
BBC |
28 Feb 2006 |
Solicitor who smuggled drugs
into Barlinnie named A
solicitor who admitted smuggling drugs into Glasgow's Barlinnie prison can
now be named. It follows a successful legal challenge by lawyers from media
companies including Scottish Television to a High Court ruling that Angela
Baillie's name should be kept out of the press. She is now facing a lengthy
prison sentence after pleading guilty. |
Scottish TV |
07 Feb 2006 |
Lawyer supplied drugs to
prisoner A solicitor has
admitted supplying drugs to a Barlinnie Prison inmate. Heroin and diazepam
with a street value of more than £1,600 were handed over in a cigarette
packet which had been opened and resealed, the court heard. |
BBC |
06 Feb 2006 |
Top lawyer killed wife in
vicious knife attack A partner
at one of Britain’s biggest law firms stabbed his wife to death in a
"ferocious" attack just days after she told him she was having an affair, a
court heard today. Christopher Lumsden, 52, used a kitchen knife to stab his
wife Alison in the neck, face and back as she sat at a dressing table in the
bedroom of their home near Altrincham, Cheshire, on the evening of March 16
last year. |
Times Online |
06 Feb 2006 |
DISHONEST SOLICITOR STRUCK OFF
A DISGRACED solicitor has been
struck off after borrowing tens of thousands of pounds from dead clients'
estates. A Law Society disciplinary tribunal found Adrian Gerard Donkin, a
trusted solicitor for 30 years, had acted dishonestly by misusing money in
customers' accounts, as loans for himself.
Donkin, whose three-and-a-quarter acre home in Boldon Lane, Cleadon, is up
for sale for £950,000, was also slammed for taking a £25,000 personal loan
from a grieving woman too upset to accept inheritance money after the death
of her brother. |
Sunderland Today |
28 Jan 2006 |
You'll be jailed for theft
from clients A DISGRACED
solicitor who plundered more than £143,000 from clients was yesterday warned
he faced jail. Stephen Pulston Williams, of Holborn Road, Holyhead, admitted
four charges of theft, three of false accounting, and one forgery charge.
The 50-year-old was the senior partner in the longstanding law firm of
Prothero Williams with offices in Valley, Holyhead and Bangor. He was struck
off in 2002, after he admitted using clients' cash for his own use, leaving
a £172,000 black hole. The firm, closed down by a legal watchdog, was later
taken over. |
IC North Wales |
25 Jan 2006 |
Solicitor barred
A solicitor who used his clients’
money when he ran his business from a hut in his garden at Harlow, Essex,
was struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Michael Blow, 55,
had a £546,000 “black hole” in his accounts. Some of the money will have to
be found by the solicitors’ insurance fund. |
Times Online |
02 Dec 2005 |
Crooked lawyers ordered to pay
up A
SOLICITOR and his law firm must pay £360,000 to 63 investors involved in a
boiler room scam the Court of Appeal ruled today. John Martin and Adrian Sam
& Co ("ASC"), the former London-based law firm at which Martin was a
partner, were found guilty in December 2004 of being involved in an illegal
overseas investment firm's 'boiler room' activities in the UK. |
This is Money
Financial Services Authority |
26 Nov 2005 |
Lawyer jailed for stealing 6
mln stg from clients LONDON
(Reuters) - A solicitor was jailed for eight years on Thursday for stealing
over 6 million pounds from his clients. Michael Fielding, 59, used his
position as a partner at law firm Lawrence Graham to fraudulently sign off
requests for scores of payments over a 3-year period. "At present, 140
unauthorised withdrawals totalling 6.5 million pounds have been identified,"
police said after Fielding was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court. |
Reuters |
03 Nov 2005 |
Fugitive City lawyer faces
jail A top City lawyer, who
used to advise the Princess Diana Memorial Trust, is to be sentenced this
week after admitting stealing at least £6.5m from his clients. Michael
Fielding, a former partner at solicitors Lawrence Graham, was a fugitive
from justice for more than four years... |
Independent |
31 Oct 2005 |
Fraudulent solicitor is struck
off A solicitor who was jailed
for 28 days after admitting stealing from a charity has been struck off by
the Law Society. Christopher Savage was convicted at Lowestoft Magistrate's
Court in December after a court heard he had abused his position as
treasurer to the Beccles Round Table and Beccles Business Association(BBA)
by taking money destined for the James Paget Hospital (JPH) at Gorleston. |
Eastern Daily Press |
17 Oct 2005 |
Lawyer jailed for embezzling
cash A solicitor who embezzled
more than £100,000 from his Glasgow law firm has been jailed for two years.
Calum Blyth, 34, admitted taking the money from the firm's account over
two-and-a-half years in the late 1990s. Judge Lord McPhail told the High
Court in Edinburgh that cases of embezzling by solicitors damaged public
confidence in the legal profession. |
BBC |
16 Sept 2005 |
Solicitor abused client's
child A solicitor has been
jailed for grooming the 10-year-old daughter of a client before abusing her.
Anthony Bare, 48, of Lumb Lane in Droylsden, Gtr Manchester, bought the girl
gifts before attacking her twice. |
BBC |
30 Aug 2005 |
Shady lawyer left us in the
cold J.W. writes:
"I have a problem with the Law Society. I run a wholesale business
selling beers, wines and spirits, and after a customer's cheque for £40,000
bounced, we cut off supplies. The customer said new finance was being raised
and cash was imminent. We accepted an undertaking from the customer's
solicitor that we would be paid in full, so supplies were reinstated. Well,
the firm was refinanced, but we never received our cash as promised and we
put the firm into liquidation"..
Tony Hetherington replies:
"LET'S name names. The company that owes you money is called Tockheath.
When it went bust, you had received £16,500, leaving £23,500 due. And the
solicitor who gave the dud promise to pay you is Barry Roberts. Writing on
the notepaper of his firm, Roberts & Co of Sheffield, he said: 'As
solicitors for and on behalf of Tockheath, we hereby undertake to discharge
your outstanding account in the sum of £40,000 from the proceeds of the
refinancing operation.' What could be clearer? Roberts was not writing on
Tockheath notepaper, he did not sign himself as a director of Tockheath and
he wrote as a solicitor, nothing else. But there is more to Roberts than
meets the eye. Not long after he made his promise to you, his firm was shut
down by the Law Society"... Read the full text, link on right:-
Also by Tony Hetherington:
Why Crooks are Laughing |
This is Money |
30 Aug 2005 |
LAWYER STOLE £108K
A FORMER solicitor faces jail
after admitting embezzling £108,000 from clients when his firm plunged into
debt. |
Glasgow Daily Record |
13 Aug 2005 |
Solicitor struck off after
using client fund A NORTH
Yorkshire solicitor has been struck off after taking £20,000 from his firm's
accounts to pay his utility bills. A solicitors' tribunal yesterday heard
fellow partners at Northallerton firm Jefferson Willan and Co became
concerned Roland Heslop-Gill was withdrawing excessive sums every month as
salary. |
Yorkshire Post |
03 Aug 2005 |
Solicitor jailed for client
theft A solicitor has been
jailed for 18 months after he stole £150,000 from two chronically ill
patients and from bank accounts of dead clients. Nicholas Pounder, 46, from
Porthcawl, south Wales, used the money to pay off credit card debts Swansea
Crown Court was told. He admitted 16 charges of theft, two of false
accounting, while 71 similar charges were taken into account. |
BBC |
15 Jul 2005 |
Solicitor jailed for will
swindle
A north Devon solicitor who swindled clients out of more than £280,000 has
been jailed for three and a half years. Philip Huxtable, 58, from Hiscott
near Barnstaple, was found guilty last month of 11 charges of stealing from
clients. He tried to cover up his stealing by massively overcharging
clients, Bournemouth Crown Court was told. The Freemason, who has since been
made bankrupt, used the money to prop up his ailing business, Pitts Tuckers,
and to finance a lavish lifestyle. |
BBC |
13 Jul 2005 |
£2m pension fund fraud
solicitor jailed
A SOLICITOR who helped his client
plunder more than £2m from the pension fund of hundreds of Scottish workers
was jailed for two years yesterday. Carsten Iversen, 44, played a "vital
role" in reassuring trustees that a complex cash transfer scheme was above
board. |
The
Herald |
01 Jul 2005 |
Solicitor pleads guilty to
theft
A solicitor who stole nearly
£350,000 from clients and the Inland Revenue has been jailed for four years
for theft. Christopher McChrystal, 52, was caught when the Law Society
carried out an inspection at his sole practice on De Montfort Street in
Leicester. |
BBC |
29 Jun 2005 |
Internet Adoption Solicitor
Struck Off A solicitor who
sparked controversy by adopting twin girls through the internet today lost
his High Court battle against being struck off for breaching strict
financial rules. Alan Kilshaw’s wife, Judith, appeared in person before two
senior judges to challenge the disciplinary ruling. She argued that, as Mr
Kilshaw, 50, had not been accused of dishonesty, he should be subjected to a
lesser penalty, such as suspension. |
The
Scotsman |
20 Jun 2005 |
Solicitor is barred for
helping fraudster A SOLICITOR
who served a three-year jail sentence for helping a fraudster steal £425,000
has been struck off by the Law Society. Susan Davies, 56, was sucked into an
advance fee scam aimed at a Korean developer hoping to raise the money to
provide a designer golf course at Eyehurst Farm, Kingswood. Davies allowed
the mastermind of the fraud, Andreas Kitallides, to withdraw the money from
her client account after falling for his flattery. But, while he avoided
charges by fleeing to South Africa, Davies was forced to plead guilty to
conspiracy to defraud. |
IC Surrey Online |
07 Jun 2005 |
Thousands sought from con
lawyer A former lawyer who
swindled clients out of almost £700,000 has been ordered to pay back
£100,000.
John Kennedy Forster, 55, from Stranraer, has been serving a six-and-a-half
year prison sentence for embezzling £667,000. |
BBC |
04 Jun 2005 |
Bigamous lawyer stole from
client
A bigamous solicitor has been
jailed for six months for stealing thousands of pounds from a dead client's
account to pay for her marriage. Marylena Shuti, 29, wrote cheques for
£6,000 and £2,000 from the estate of Clifford Parkinson, and paid them into
her account, Luton Crown Court heard. |
BBC |
04 Jun 2005 |
Lawyer stole £825,000 from
taxman A solicitor stole more
than £825,000 from the Inland Revenue by paying money into a bogus bank
account he had set up in the name of "Ian Revue", a court heard yesterday.
Ian Macfarlane lived in an "idyllic" country house worth £750,000, drove a
Mercedes, educated his children at an independent prep school and used the
proceeds of his crime "like a cashpoint".Macfarlane, 44, a partner at Traill
& Co, in Blandford, Dorset,... |
Telegraph |
27 Apr 2005 |
Law firm's payout to
'betrayed' ex-miners
A LAW firm has been forced to pay
out over £100,000 to 13 former Yorkshire miners after handling their claims
for compensation negligently. Some of the claims against Doncaster
solicitors Shaw & Co were prompted by a Yorkshire Post investigation into
the Yorkshire Compensation Recovery Service, which referred clients to the
firm. |
Yorkshire Post |
28 Apr 2005 |
Immigrant visa scam lawyer
jailed
A north London lawyer who made thousands of pounds charging immigrants for
bogus visas has been jailed for nine years at Croydon Crown Court. Chris
Christodoulides, from Enfield, used forged documents to help hundreds of
Romanian immigrants gain visas.The 38-year-old admitted charges of
conspiracy to defraud the Home Office and facilitate illegal entry to the
UK. |
This is London
Times Online |
25 Apr 2005 |
Barrister is disbarred after
calling his instructing solicitor a 'nigger'
An Oxford-educated lawyer has
become the first barrister to be disbarred for racism after he called a
senior black solicitor a "nigger" and suggested he returned to Ghana. Joseph
Sykes made his comments in a letter to a London solicitor, Philip Glah,... |
Independent |
23 Apr 2005 |
Jailed Solicitor 'Betrayed
Grieving Clients'
Police who investigated a
solicitor jailed for six years after stealing more than £1 million from the
estates of dead clients today described his crimes as a “betrayal of trust
of staggering proportions”.
John Ingham, 60, was jailed at Leeds Crown Court yesterday after admitting
19 counts of theft from accounts held by his firm in Otley, West Yorkshire. |
The Scotsman |
24 Mar 2005 |
Sacked Judge Gets Three Year
Law Ban A former district
judge who was sacked for being drunk was today banned from practising law
for three years over serious financial irregularities and ordered to pay
£15,000 costs. David Messenger, 50, of Scalby Road, Scarborough, North
Yorkshire, used a client’s money taken from his law firm Messengers for his
own personal benefit. |
The Scotsman |
22 Mar 2005 |
Crime-Crusader Lawyer Jailed
for Swindling Bosses A greedy
barrister hired to root out corruption in the travel industry was jailed for
four-and-a-half years today after swindling his bosses out of nearly £1
million. Ricardo Nardi, 36, was nicknamed “Mr Clean” after being taken on as
legal services chief at the Association of British Travel Agents. |
The Scotsman |
16 Mar 2005 |
Lawyer spent clients’ funds
A SOLICITOR who used his clients’ money to buy a holiday home and pay staff
wages, has been barred from practising on his own for 10 years. Daniel
Hurley, a solicitor who owns a law firm in Galway city, was censured by the
High Court after an investigation into his accounts by the Solicitors
Disciplinary Tribunal, an independent body that deals with complaints
against lawyers. |
Sunday Times - Ireland |
13 Mar 2005 |
Solicitor David Andrew
Gatherer struck off. The SDT
ordered that the respondent, of 22 Meadow Lane, East Herrington, Sunderland
SR3 3RG, who at all material times had been in practice on his own account,
should be struck off the Roll for unbefitting conduct in that, on 23
September 2003, he had been tried and convicted on indictment of conspiracy
to defraud at Newcastle Crown Court, and on 16 January 2004 had been
sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment. The SDT found that the conviction of a
solicitor for a criminal offence involving dishonesty flew in the face of
the fundamental requirement that a member of the profession be a person of
the highest integrity, probity and trustworthiness. |
Law Society Gazette |
11 Mar 2005 |
Solicitor admits theft of
£900,000 from clients John
Richard Ingham was struck off by the Law Society last month after the
Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal heard he had plundered money from accounts
for years. Yesterday Ingham, 60, who was a partner in the firm of Barret
Chamberlain, in Manor Square, Otley, appeared at Leeds Crown Court and
pleaded guilty to 19 charges of theft totalling more than £980,000 from the
beneficiaries of different clients prior to June 2003. |
Yorkshire Post |
09 Mar 2005 |
Crooked solicitor is shamed
A CROOKED solicitor who milked
£43,000 from his firm when his bosses failed to give him a promised pay rise
was struck off on Tuesday.Panikkos Panayi, 39, vowed to "get even" with his
partners at Heckford Norton in Letchworth GC when they decided against the
increase. |
Herts 24 |
03 Mar
2005 |
Bent solicitor thrown out
A DISHONEST Wirral solicitor used £10,000 entrusted to him by a client to
pay his own salary, a disciplinary hearing was told yesterday. Gordon Kingan,
50, was thrown out of the profession after the tribunal heard how he also
used a cheque drawn on his client's account to pay his mortgage. |
IC Liverpool |
16 Feb
2005 |
Solicitor sacked after BBC
sting This item has been
temporarily removed pending enquiries about the broken link. UJ has a cached
version of the original article, which featured here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/4263439.stm |
BBC (link broken) |
14 Feb 2005 |
Corruption Probe Lawyer Facing
Jail for Fraud A barrister
employed to unearth corruption in the British travel industry was behind
bars today after admitting defrauding the organisation that hired him.
Ricardo Nardi, 36, who was the head of legal services at the Association of
British Travel Agents, siphoned off nearly £1 million from its coffers
during a seven-year betrayal of trust. |
The Scotsman |
11 Feb
2005 |
Solicitors undertook
irreconcilable duties "A man
may have a duty on one side and an interest on another. A solicitor who puts
himself in that position takes upon himself a grievous responsibility. A
solicitor may have a duty on one side and a duty on the other, namely, a
duty to his client as solicitor on the one side and a duty to his
beneficiaries on the other; but if he chooses to put himself in that
position it does not lie in his mouth to say to the client 'I have not
discharged that which the law says is my duty towards you, my client,
because I owe a duty to the beneficiaries on the other side'. The answer is
that if a solicitor involves himself in that dilemma it is his own fault. He
ought before putting himself in that position to inform the client of his
conflicting duties, and either obtain from that client an agreement that he
should not perform his full duties of disclosure or say - which would be
much better - 'I cannot accept this business.' I think it would be the worst
thing to say that a solicitor can escape from the obligations, imposed upon
him as solicitor, of disclosure if he can prove that it is not a case of
duty on one side and of interest on the other, but a case of duty on both
sides and therefore impossible to perform."
In this case the poor soul had to wait FIFTEEN years before even getting a
sniff at justice. UJ. |
House of Lords
ICLR |
05 Feb 2005 |
Legal worker stole to pay off
debts
A PROBATE manager for a Suffolk
solicitors' firm who stole £19,000 from clients' estates to pay off gambling
debts has been jailed for 18 months. Father-of-three Gary Beales used bank
cards given to him for safekeeping to withdraw money from cash points and
even bought himself a car with £7,000 taken from another estate, Ipswich
Crown Court heard yesterday. |
East Anglian Daily Times |
02 Feb
2005 |
Tribunal told law firm kept
cash for office use SEVEN
solicitors were accused yesterday of misusing huge sums of clients' money to
try to keep their business afloat. It was claimed the partners in Hull firm
Carrick Carr Wright kept stamp duty and land registry money in office
accounts to reduce their overdraft. Cashier Kevin Rooney even gave himself a
bonus to help pay for a holiday villa, the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal
heard. |
Yorkshire Post
UJ |
25 Jan
2005 |
Prufrock: Nadir's solicitor is
struck off
Peter Krivinskas, long-standing
adviser and lawyer to Nadir, has been struck off as a solicitor. The Law
Society has confirmed his removal from its roll of solicitors. |
Sunday Times |
23 Jan
2005 |
Legal clerk disappears before
tribunal A SOLICITORS' clerk
has been barred from the profession after writing a reference for a relative
who had never worked for the firm. David Kirunda, 48, also took a van-load
of 325 files from one practice without the permission of the boss and
moonlighted for another company. |
IC South London |
20 Jan
2005 |
Solicitor admits theft from
law firm
A SOUTH Wales solicitor has
admitted stealing more than £110,000 from his law firm. Nicholas Pounder,
46, admitted 16 offences of theft and two of false accounting at Swansea
crown court yesterday. (12 Jan) |
IC Wales |
14 Jan
2005 |
Barrister disbarred for juggling
murder cases A barrister has been
disbarred for trying to represent two alleged killers in separate trials at
the same time, in crown courts 130 miles apart. To compound the strain on
Colin William Campbell, his personal life was "in turmoil", his defence
counsel later told a Bar disciplinary tribunal. |
Guardian |
10 Jan
2005 |
Solicitor jailed for charity
fraud
A disgraced solicitor was last
night starting a 28-day jail sentence after admitting stealing money
destined for charity by defrauding two business groups. Christopher Savage's
solicitor said the 44-year-old father of two had suffered from "rogue file
syndrome" after taking around £1300 from the Beccles Business Association (BBA)
and Beccles Round Table. |
Eastern Daily Press |
06 Jan 2005 |
Wills theft solicitor is
jailed
A solicitor who stole £630,000 to
pay compensation he failed to secure for his clients has been jailed.
Donald Halling, 54, of Central Avenue, South Shields, stole the money from
the wills of other deceased clients. He pleaded guilty to 12 forgery and
seven theft charges and to attempting to pervert the course of justice. |
BBC |
21 Dec
2004 |
Crooked lawyer struck off
after dodgy plane deal
A crooked lawyer acted as a
"cloak of respectability" for businessmen involved in a multi-million pound
cargo planes deal. Ian Hutchinson, 56, of Trinity Road, Paddington, allowed
his firm's headed paper to
be used to approach airlines and moneylenders on behalf of a group of
companies, without having carried out the proper checks. |
Hampstead and Highgate Express |
17 Dec
2004 |
Crooked solicitor struck off
A CROOKED solicitor who helped
evil "Snakehead" gangsters to smuggle hundreds of Chinese asylum into the
country was struck off last Tuesday. Titus Miranda, 58, ran his firm as a
"factory of lies" coaching migrants on how to convince the authorities that
they were the victims of religious persecution. |
Harrow Times |
10 Dec
2004 |
Solicitor admits $1.4m fraud
A TASMANIAN solicitor is behind
bars tonight after pleading guilty to defrauding investors of $1.4 million.
Haydn James Dodge, of Sorell, was remanded in custody after pleading guilty
in the Supreme Court of Tasmania to three counts of conspiracy to defraud
investors. |
Daily Telegraph |
10 Dec
2004 |
Law Soc faces £2m bill for
complaints handling
The cost to the Law Society of
meeting revised complaints handling targets is likely to exceed £2m, it has
emerged. |
The Lawyer |
07 Dec
2004 |
Dishonest solicitor struck off
LITTLEHAMPTON solicitor Robin
Parslow has been struck off, for failing to keep financial records of his
practice and lying to investigators. |
Littlehampton Today |
09 Dec
2004 |
Fury over legal aid for wealthy
lawyer
A WEALTHY city lawyer who
admitted embezzling £20,000 from clients has caused outrage after it was
revealed he was given taxpayers’ cash during his court case. Critics have
slammed a decision to pay legal aid to Richard McAnulty, 46, despite the
fact he lives in a £400,000 house, drives a Mercedes, runs a successful
chain of sandwich shops and has two children at a fee-paying school. |
The Scotsman |
31 Oct
2004 |
"Solicitor masterminded massive
legal aid fraud
A flamboyant lawyer best known
for representing murderer Tracie Andrews has served a jail sentence for
masterminding a multi-million Legal Aid fraud, it can be revealed today.
Solicitor Timothy Robinson, now 60, was convicted of conspiring to
systematically defraud the Legal Aid system of huge sums of cash over a
period of almost six years." (Independent) "More
than 20 staff from Robinsons Solicitors - which had offices in Cheltenham,
Gloucester, Bristol and Swindon - have been convicted of defrauding the
Legal Aid system. On Friday, as the final trial collapsed, reporting
restrictions were lifted, and the full extent of the crimes could at last be
revealed." (BBC)
An account of the case is also published today by the Gloucestershire
Constabulary in an information pack “Operation Alison”. Contact Chelmsford
(01242) 276071. |
Independent
The Scotsman
BBC
Serious Fraud
Office
Operation Alison Media Release |
29 Oct
2004 |
Solicitors stole from bankrupt
company A solicitors' watchdog has
welcomed a ruling to strike off two solicitors who stole £53,000 from a
bankrupt client. Peter Wilson, aged 57, and Richard Lloyd, aged 56, have
been thrown out of their profession after admitting dishonesty. |
IC Coventry |
28 Oct
2004 |
CLIENT CASH RIDDLE: DODGY
LAWYER OWES £750K
A DISGRACED lawyer accused of
fleecing cash has gone bankrupt owing up to £750,000. Douglas Criggie, 47,
was investigated by the fraud squad after allegations that he swiped
clients' money at his Edinburgh practice. |
Sunday Mail |
24 Oct
2004 |
Barrister Tax Cheat Put Behind
Bars
INLAND REVENUE PROSECUTIONS News
Release (TP29/04) issued by the Government News Network on 22 October 2004.
Richard Deighton (58) a barrister of 146 Bognor Road, Chichester was
sentenced to 9 months jail today at Maidstone Crown Court. |
The Scotsman |
23 Oct
2004 |
Solicitor fined over widow's
cheque
ONE of Yorkshire's leading
lawyers was fined £10,000 yesterday after an £80,000 insurance cheque was
put into the office account instead of being paid to a widow. A Solicitors
Disciplinary Tribunal heard that Max Gold Partnership, of Silver Street,
Hull, operated a life insurance scheme that paid out in the event of the
death of an employee. When worker James Evans died in 2001, his wife Mary
should have received £80,000. |
Yorkshire Post |
23 Oct
2004 |
A law unto themselves
The Law Society wants us to love our solicitors, but the number of
complaints means it is a difficult case to prove. 'My hero, my solicitor' is
the unlikely slogan for a poster campaign designed to impress upon an
uncaring British public just how wonderful lawyers are. 'Hero' certainly
isn't the word that David Smith would choose to sum up his feelings towards
his lawyer. |
Observer |
17 Oct
2004 |
A reward for failure
Seven staff blamed for helping to
land a £7.5 million compensation bill on Birmingham housing department have
been sacked. The seven had been responsible for examining council houses
where tenants were suing the council for allowing the properties to fall
into disrepair. Three of the seven have now found jobs with the same legal
firms which pocketed millions by winning compensation for tenants, it
emerged today. |
IC Birmingham |
16 Oct
2004 |
Conman solicitor is jailed
A LAWYER who conned clients out
of more than £19,000 was jailed for 18 months yesterday. Edinburgh sheriff
Douglas Allan told 46-year old Richard McAnulty a custodial sentence was the
only appropriate one. |
Daily record |
13 Oct
2004 |
Solicitor 'failed to voice
suspicions'
A Belfast solicitor has been
jailed for six months for failing to tell police about his suspicions that a
client was laundering drug money. Gavin David McCartan, 46, from Ardenlee
Avenue,... |
BBC |
04 Oct
2004 |
Solicitor in court on fraud
charge.
A CALDERDALE solicitor was among
five people to appear in court accused of taking part in a housing scam.
Norman Hopwood (77), of Bramley Lane, Hipperholme, and Maria Kitson, (50),
of Parkwood Street, Keighley, are charged along with Mehfooz Hussain, (26),
Shakeela Bibi, (26) and Mahmood Hussain, (31), all of Fairfield Road, Idle,
Bradford, with conspiracy to defraud. |
Halifax Today |
01 Oct
2004 |
Lawyer faces prison over
embezzling from clients
A LAWYER is facing jail after
admitting embezzling money from his clients. Richard McAnulty, 46, has
admitted embezzling £19,484 from the accounts of a number of his clients -
including almost £7000 from the estate of two who were deceased. |
Edinburgh Evening News |
27 Sep
2004 |
Lawyers in asbestos case
agreed to destroy evidence
A leading London law firm agreed
a deal to destroy documents which could be used by workers to claim
compensation for asbestos-related diseases, The Independent has learnt. |
Independent |
27 Sep
2004 |
£1M BANKRUPT IS BACK IN
BUSINESS
A BANKRUPT lawyer who fleeced
investors out of their life-savings while he racked up debts of £1million is
back to his old tricks. Rogue solicitor Paul Anderson, 42, left dozens of
people in ruins after enticing them to invest in his get-rich-quick mortgage
business. |
Sunday Mail |
26 Sep
2004 |
Aston Pride paid £100,000 to
solicitors
The former Aston Pride
regeneration partnership paid more than £100,000 without authorisation to a
firm of Birmingham solicitors despite the efforts of a whistleblower to
expose what was happening. |
IC Birmingham |
25 Sep
2004 |
Solicitor struck off for role
in fraud scheme.
Ian Wilfred Dodd had improperly
assisted and/or encouraged clients and/or third parties to invest funds in a
financial scheme(s) which he ought to have known was, or had the hallmarks
of, an advance fee fraud. |
Law Society Gazette |
24 Sep
2004 |
Solicitor struck off for
'sham' practice
A ROSSENDALE solicitor has been
struck off for "improper and unacceptable" behaviour.
Michael Tracey, 46, of Meadows Avenue, Haslingden, was one of three lawyers
who set up a "sham" partnership to get round conditions imposed on a
colleague by the Law Society. |
This is Lancashire |
17 Sept 2004 |
Lawyers Accused of 'Running
Sham Practice'
Three lawyers faced being struck
off today over accusations of involvement in running a sham practice.
Among them is Aurangzeb Iqbal, who represented a dozen defendants following
the Bradford riots in the mid-1990s and who was involved with Bradford City
Football Club. |
The Scotsman |
16 Sep
2004 |
Irish solicitor ‘made false
claims to attract investor’
A SOLICITOR attempted to
introduce investments into a billion dollar oil-drilling scheme by falsely
claiming $10 million was being held by his employers, a disciplinary
tribunal heard yesterday. Philip Merrills-Dearn, aged 35, of Kilcock, Co
Kildare, formed a company for carrying out the work but used his solicitor
employers’ offices and headed notepaper to add credibility, it was claimed.
Updated 27 May 2005: "...the SDT was not
satisfied to the high standard required that he had been dishonest."
Law Society Gazette |
Irish Examiner |
15 Sep
2004 |
Lawyers face curbs over 'profits
before ethics'
New rules for solicitors as
client charges spiral to £9bn |
Independent |
31 Aug 2004 |
Lawyers warned over profiteering
LAWYERS were today facing a
crackdown on client charges to counter fears of profiteering. The Law
Society is drawing up a new code of conduct for solicitors after figures
showing record profits for top firms. |
This is London |
31 Aug
2004 |
Struck off for dodgy claims
A PRESTWICH solicitor has been
suspended for six months and his former partner struck off following a
disciplinary tribunal held over allegations their firm had been at the
centre of a £750,000 legal aid scam. Declan Adams, aged 43, of Leach
Mews,... |
Asian News UK |
31 Aug
2004 |
Fraud lawyer jailed for 6
years
A Perth lawyer who defrauded
finance companies of more than $13 million has been jailed for six years.
Rohan George Skea received the six-year sentence after District Court chief
judge Antoinette Kennedy said he had cooperated fully with police. |
ABC News
Online |
27 Aug
2004 |
LAW FIRM ACCOUNTS BOSS JAILED
FOR £60,000 THEFT
An Accounts manager for a city
law firm who stole nearly £60,000 from his employers and spent it on cars
and holidays has been jailed for two years. Andrew Erskine, aged 39, ripped
off Redland-based Bevans solicitors by transferring funds belonging to the
firm and its clients into his own bank account, Bristol Crown Court heard. |
This is Bristol |
25 Aug
2004 |
Breach of trust: lawyers
struck off
Three NSW solicitors have been
formally stripped of their licence to practise over trust fund
irregularities worth almost $3 million. Stephen Gill misappropriated almost
$1.9 million between 1994 and 2002 as he worked in the Newcastle region,
while Kevin Minotti spent about $750,000 belonging to clients of his Bondi
Junction practice. Another solicitor, Malcolm Hansen, lost his right to
practise yesterday because a clerk at his Queanbeyan firm had
misappropriated more than $310,000 |
Sydney Morning Herald |
25 Aug
2004 |
Lawyer stole for lifestyle
A successful young lawyer stole
more than $80,000 from a leading city law firm to fund an extravagant
lifestyle that included a city apartment and party drugs. Donna-Marie Field
was 25 years old and earning $90,000 a year as a senior associate at Blake
Dawson Waldron when she was caught claiming reimbursements for false
expenses. |
The Age |
25 Aug
2004 |
Solicitor jailed for
plundering
A SOLICITOR from near Solihull
who plundered more than £400,000 from clients' accounts was jailed for four-and-a-half
years at Birmingham Crown Court last Thursday. Michael Lee, 63, of Pund
Field, Wootton Wawen, took the cash... |
IC Solihull |
20 Aug
2004 |
BRIEFS ENCOUNTERS Lawyers banned
in £144M legal aid probe
TWO lawyers were banned from
every court in Scotland and several others are under investigation in a
multi-million pound legal aid probe. The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB)
slapped a four-week ban on freelancer Iain McPeake. |
Sunday Mail |
15 Aug
2004 |
Four years for thieving lawyer
A former solicitor who plundered
more than £400,000 from clients' accounts was jailed for four-and-a-half
years yesterday. Michael Lee (63), of Pund Field, Wootton Wawen,
Warwickshire, took the cash over a period of two to three years while
principal of Michael Lee & Co, based in Coventry Road, Small Heath,
Birmingham. |
IC Birmingham |
14 Aug
2004 |
'Incompetent' solicitor
suspended over errors
AN INCOMPETENT solicitor who made
a series of blunders involving clients' money has been suspended from the
profession indefinitely. Simon Cannon, 44, ended up closing down his firm
after encountering severe financial and personal problems. |
IC Surreyonline |
13 Aug
2004 |
Debtors circle law man's home
A DISGRACED solicitor's home is finally set to go on the market to pay back
money he owes to former clients. |
Belfast
Telegraph |
03 Aug
2004 |
Solicitor took eight years to
pay charity its cash
A SOLICITOR took so long to deal
with a charity donation that his client died before the matter was resolved,
a tribunal heard. |
IC SurreyOnline |
29 Jun
2004 |
News update on Solicitor David Gatherer
A Law Society spokesman said after the trail (sic): "Gatherer has badly let down his
profession. The public is entitled to the highest standards of integrity from
a solicitor. (Hmm...UJ) |
IC Newcastle |
19 Jun
2004 |
Solicitor lied about 'cashback'
scheme, tribunal hears.
A SOLICITOR lied to another
lawyer when he helped organise an astonishing £2.5 million 'cashback'
scheme, a tribunal heard on Thursday. Richard Caplan, 51, claimed he had
checked that the offer was backed by insurers when it wasn't. |
Harrow Times |
17 Jun
2004 |
Asylum case lawyers milk legal
aid.
Abuse by solicitors is revealed
as so widespread and costly that the government plans to launch its own
service. Jamie Wilson and Alan Travis detail the extent of overcharging and
exploitation. |
Guardian |
16 Jun
2004 |
"Mr Clean" barrister accused
of £1 million fraud.
A barrister appointed by the
Association of British Travel Agents to root out corruption in the travel
industry has been charged with, errr, fraud. Defrauding his employers of £1
million, to be exact. Riccardo Nardi is now looking at an all-inclusive
package deal of 23 criminal charges... |
Roll on Friday |
04 Jun
2004 |
Solicitor stole clients' cash
A SUNDERLAND solicitor has been
struck-off after stealing £114,355 from clients, a tribunal heard.
Duncan Wall, who recently worked for Harding, Swinburne, Jackson & Co
solicitors in Frederick Street, Sunderland, made 167 improper transactions
from clients accounts while running his own practice, under his own name, in
Coronation Street, South Shields. |
Sunderland Today |
04 Jun 2004 |
Dossier of shame tells of evil
web.
A SECRET dossier linked to a
murdered police informer names criminals, corrupt police and a lawyer in a
string of drug, bribery and murder plots. A PROMINENT solicitor acted as a
bagman to bribe detectives to reduce charges against two alleged drug
dealers linked to Hodson. |
The Australian |
01 Jun
2004 |
Fast-lane lawyer on more fraud
charges.
High-flying
Peppermint Grove lawyer Rohan Skea will be charged tomorrow with another 23
counts of fraud over more than $7 million he allegedly swindled out of
several finance companies. |
The West Australian |
26 May
2004 |
Theft solicitor barred from
job.
A Shropshire solicitor convicted
of theft and forgery has been struck off by a disciplinary panel. Andrew
Nicholls, who was a partner at the firm Dakin Nicholls of Shifnal, was given
a three-month suspended jail term by Telford magistrates last year. |
BBC |
24 May 2004 |
Ban for 'crusader' who gave
hope to mis-selling victims
A solicitor who gave endowment
mortgage victims hopes of a legal route to compensation has been banned from
practicing for a year. Joseph Aaron, from Ilford, Essex ...Joseph Aaron says
he was "properly regulated by the Law Society" and was not obliged to reveal
his disciplinary record. |
Guardian |
23 May
2004 |
Solicitor is struck off for
dishonesty. A NORTH Wales
solicitor and former Bangor City chairman was struck off yesterday amid
allegations of dishonesty. John Ross-Jones, 59, of Dolwyddelan, Conwy, was
alleged to have misused clients' money and not paid it into proper accounts. |
IC North Wales |
21 May
2004 |
Third Lawyer Charged with
Laundering Drug Money. A third
solicitor has been charged with laundering drugs cash, police revealed
today.
John Greenwood, 48, of Manchester Road, near Colne, Lancashire, was charged
yesterday with conspiracy to money launder following a National Crime Squad
investigation. John Greenwood cleared
26 July 2005 |
The Scotsman |
21 May
2004 |
Albury solicitor jailed.
Mr Peter Lyle Sharp, a former solicitor from Albury, New South Wales (NSW),
was sentenced today in the NSW District Court to five years jail with a
non-parole period of three years in relation to 39 charges brought by the
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Mr Sharp had
earlier pleaded guilty to 16 charges under the Corporations Act of making
improper use of his position as the director of Tietyens Investments Pty Ltd
to gain an advantage directly or indirectly for himself, and 23 charges
under the Crimes Act of New South Wales, of concurring in the making of
false statements with intent to obtain a financial advantage. |
Australian SIC |
18 May
2004 |
Ex-Banker's Scam Left Investors
'High and Dry' A former banker
masterminded an “elaborate” international charade that fed on “human
frailties”, dealt in deceit and made millions, a court heard today. In the
dock with Martin Gibbins, 41, of Robins Nest Hill, Little Berkhamsted,
Hertfordshire, are Imdab Ullah, a 35-year-old financial consultant from
Aberdeen Place, St John’s Wood, north west London, and solicitors Michael
Wilson-Smith, 59, who lives in Dane Hill, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, Peter
Barnett, 48, of Birchanger Lane, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, and
Minesh Ruparelia, 38, from Broxburn Close, Leicester. |
The Scotsman |
12 May
2004 |
Police raid solicitors' office.
Officers from the Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency targeted the offices of
Chris Sayer solicitors in connection with a crackdown on career criminal
Alexander Donnelly. |
The Scotsman |
12 May
2004 |
Ledward victims face legal
bills. Thirty-seven women who
claimed they were sexually assaulted by the disgraced gynaecologist Rodney
Ledward have been left with large legal bills. Mistakes by
solicitor Jane Loveday resulted in their High Court bid for compensation
collapsing in January. |
BBC |
11 May
2004 |
Solicitor branded incompetent by
High Court judge.
Abbot Ozuzu was reported to the
Legal Services Commission by a High Court judge because his work was "not
competent". |
Evening Standard |
10 May
2004 |
Crooked lawyer's appeal rejected.
A Solicitor jailed for eight
years for crimes including fleecing more than £300,000 from clients has been
denied leave to appeal against his sentence....all cases of theft by solicitors
resulted in considerable damage to public confidence in the legal system but
this was a particularly bad case. |
This is Derbyshire |
09 May
2004 |
Jail for solicitor who lied.
A city solicitor has been jailed for lying to the police.
Harjit Sangha, 39, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for trying to
pervert the course of justice. |
Leicester Mercury |
08 May
2004 |
Lawyer in cash probe
suspended. A LAWYER who
admitted a string of charges was suspended indefinitely at a disciplinary
hearing.
Solicitor Geoffrey Stuart Lawton, 63, of Crowther Road, Heckmondwike,
practised on his own under the name of GS Lawton and Co, of North Lane,
Headingley, Leeds. |
IC Huddersfield |
07 May
2004 |
Solicitor struck off for
swindling clients.
A solicitor who stole a million
pounds by swindling clients out of money from compensation claims has been
struck off. Dmytro Torkoniak lied to the victims of accidents and illness
about the amount of compensation they'd been awarded. |
ITV Central |
07 May
2004 |
Jail for solicitor who robbed
clients.
A YORKSHIRE solicitor was
beginning a two-and-a-half year jail sentence today for plundering more than
£114,000 from client accounts. Timothy Farrant, 52, siphoned the money over
nine years while a partner at Pinkney Grunwells in Scarborough. |
Leeds Today |
01 May
2004 |
Judge Halts Asylum Case to
Report 'Incompetent' Solicitors.
A High Court judge dramatically halted a hearing today and reported an
“incompetent” firm of solicitors dealing with an asylum seeker to the body
which administers the legal aid system.
The extraordinary action was taken by Mr Justice Goldring after he
criticised Abbot and Co, based in Woolwich New Road, south east London,... |
The Scotsman |
28 Apr
2004 |
Solicitors' accounts a mess.
TWO Liverpool solicitors who allowed their busy firm's accounts to become a
"complete mess" were fined a total of £8,000 yesterday.
Action was taken against Michael Ellenbogen, 43, and Andrew James, 52, after
a Law Society inspector found the books would not balance. |
IC Liverpool |
28 Apr
2004 |
Hearing told of four-year
delay in dealing with will.
A CHESHIRE solicitor who delayed
properly dealing with a will for four years was fined £3,000 yesterday.
David Sims, 63, broke strict legal rules by failing to locate the dead
person's assets or apply for probate to tie up the estate. |
IC Liverpool |
28 Apr
2004 |
Lawyers arrested in cash
probe. Five people, including
two solicitors and an accountant, have been arrested in connection with
money laundering and deception offences. |
BBC |
26 Apr
2004 |
Action over double-charging
lawyers.
Scores of solicitors have been
removed from an approved Government list after failing to respond to calls
to refund overpayments to miners involved in health claims, it has been
revealed. |
I.C. Essex |
25 Apr
2004 |
Crooked city solicitor is
struck off. A CROOKED
Sheffield lawyer who pocketed hundreds of pounds of homebuyers' cash has
been struck off the solicitors' roll. Paul Bateman, aged 35, a former
partner at city centre firm Cunnington's on Trippet Lane, may now face a
police investigation into his dishonesty. |
Sheffield Today |
22 Apr
2004 |
Disgraced lawyer new council
head. THE wealthiest Aboriginal
land council in NSW has appointed as its chief executive disgraced barrister
Paul Coe, who was paid thousands of dollars by the same organisation for
legal advice although he had been struck off. |
The Australian |
22 Apr
2004 |
White & Case lawyer imprisoned
for fraud
A former White & Case lawyer has
been sent to a boot camp in Buffalo after stealing over $111,000 from the
firm. Jennifer Hampton pleaded guilty to first degree fraud and second
degree grand larceny... |
The Lawyer (com) |
20 Apr
2004 |
Lawyer accused of legal aid
fraud. A LAWYER exposed in a
Manchester Evening News investigation has been accused of 10 cases of legal
aid fraud and of using a false university degree certificate when applying
to be a solicitor. Liaqat Malik, 46,... |
Manchester Online |
16 Apr
2004 |
'Dog's
dinner' costs solicitor his job.
A bungling
solicitor who admitted making "a dog's dinner" of a road accident case,
leaving three injured women with nominal damages of £1 each, was struck off
yesterday. Kevin Nutt, 43,... |
Telegraph |
16 Apr
2004 |
Solicitor Bailed on Drugs Cash
Laundering Charges
A solicitor and a legal representative appeared in
court today charged with laundering drugs cash.
Basil Dearing was before Preston magistrates charged with four matters
relating to the transfer of the proceeds of drug trafficking.
Basil Dearing cleared 26 July 2005 |
Scotsman |
15 Apr
2004 |
Wait goes on for Lawyer's
Victims.
Most of the victims of a Derby
solicitor who conned clients and taxpayers out of nearly £1m are still
waiting for their money back - more than two years after his arrest. |
This Is Derbyshire |
14 Apr
2004 |
Solicitor struck off for
misconduct
Former Sutherland lawyer Mark
Sutherland-Fisher, North Cadboll House, North Cadboll, Fearn, has been
struck off the Roll of Solicitors in Scotland, it emerged this week. |
Northern Times |
02 Apr
2004 |
Solicitors charged after
inquiry
A former president of Burnley Law
Society has been accused of money laundering and conspiracy to pervert the
course of justice.
Basil Dearing (Now cleared), 60, of Lower Chapel Lane, Grindleton, Lancashire, was charged
on Tuesday as part of a National Crime Squad investigation.
Solicitor, 53-year-old John Broughton of Pasture Drive in Colne, was charged
with the same offences.
Eight other people have been charged with similar offences.
John Broughton cleared 26 July 2005 |
BBC |
01 Apr
2004 |
Probe into law firm.
"A report into the circumstances
surrounding the forced closure of Gidley and Company, of Stainland Road,
should go before the Law Society next month." |
Huddersfield Daily Examiner |
23 Mar 2004 |
Profit built on lies.
A crooked Birmingham solicitor
involved in a series of fraudulent mortgage deals which made a fortune for
his client has been kicked out of the profession.
City lawyer Colin Barr, 47, failed to disclose vital information to building
societies as they lent money for a series of dubious property purchases. |
IC Birmingham |
18 Mar 2004 |
Conman lawyer jailed for fraud
A lawyer who admitted defrauding
clients out of nearly £700,000 has been jailed for six-and-a-half years. |
BBC |
18 Mar 2004 |
Solicitor in court for theft
of clients' cash.
"Tim Farrant, 52, a former
partner in Scarborough law firm Grunwells, yesterday appeared at York Crown
Court to plead guilty to nine charges of theft." |
Yorkshire post |
16 Mar
2004 |
Solicitor in fraud probe.
Mystery surrounds the identity of
a Teifi Valley solicitor under investigation over an alleged fraud. |
Carmarthen Journal |
11 Mar 2004 |
Solicitor In Cash Probe
AN Ulster solicitor is at the
centre of a probe by the Northern Ireland Law Society, it can be revealed
today. (Link broken as at July 2006) |
IC Northern Ireland |
11 Mar 2004 |
Lawyer stole from dead
A solicitor has been jailed for
four years for stealing more than £278,000 from dead clients to fund his
comfortable lifestyle. |
BBC |
28 Feb 2004 |
Solicitor Suspected of
Smuggling Illegal Immigrants into the Country
The lawyer
was stopped last night by detectives at Dover, with four Romanian nationals
in his car returning from France. |
The
Scotsman |
28 Feb 2004 |
Ex-con lawyer struck off
A
CONVICTED murderer who qualified as a solicitor has been kicked out of the
profession for trying to kill his wife. Incredibly, Law Society officials
were convinced he was safe to work as a lawyer following his release on life
licence after he knifed a 17-year-old to death on a dance floor. (Well, the
Law Society's not fussy about who it lets in, is it? UJ)
|
IC South London |
27 Feb 2004 |
Sentencing of Former Solicitor
Deferred Again
A former solicitor who stole
£667,000 from his clients will have to wait a further three weeks to learn
his fate, a court ruled today. |
The
Scotsman |
26 Feb 2004 |
He kept swiping clients' money
FOR seven years, a crooked lawyer
kept pocketing his clients' money. When he was caught last year, he had
taken $1.68 million. (A nod to Asian reporting) |
Straits Times |
26 Feb 2004 |
Barrister 'jailed for judge
insult' |
BBC |
26 Feb 2004 |
Lawyer jailed after £250,000
loan-fraud scam
A LAWYER who carried out loan
frauds worth £250,000 to bail out his struggling legal practice was jailed
for more than two years yesterday. |
Scotsman |
26 Feb 2004 |
£38m scam solicitor struck off
Paul Winter Morris (55), received
a five-year prison term after he dishonestly siphoned some £8 million
through his law firm’s client accounts. |
HM Customs & Excise |
25 Feb 2004 |
High court orders inquiry into
law firm. .. "enormous concern" by the conduct of a solicitor, Jane
Loveday, who ran up a legal aid bill of up to £2m representing women
claiming assaults by the struck-off gynaecologist Rodney Ledward. |
Guardian |
19 Feb 2004 |
Sentencing of Solicitor Deferred Again |
Scotsman |
14 Feb 2004 |
Solicitor used clients’ cash on loans David Holder
ran up debts of almost £700,000... |
Hendon & Finchley Times |
06 Feb 2004 |
Crooked solicitor paid tax
bill with client's money
A CROOKED solicitor who settled
her tax bill with money due to a bereaved family has been thrown out of the
profession. |
Henley Standard |
19 Jan 2004 |
House-scam lawyer to be struck
off
"Crooked solicitor David Gatherer
will be struck off after being jailed for cheating an elderly widow in a
property scam." |
Evening Chronicle |
19 Jan 2004 |
I was ruined by Shipman
'lawyer', says ex-solicitor
A former solicitor has alleged
that the fraudster Giovanni Di Stefano ruined his practice |
Guardian |
19 Jan 2004 |
Ex-lawyer sentenced for fraud (with a
nod to Scotland) |
BBC |
14 Dec 2003 |
A solicitor pleaded guilty this week
to stealing over half a million pounds from his clients. |
Roll
on Friday |
12 Dec 2003 |
A solicitor who employed a disgraced
former lawyer at his practice without the permission of his governing body
was suspended for six and a half months. |
Camberley News & Mail and
ICSouthLondon |
09 Nov 2003 |
Solicitor suspended over
fraud. A Shropshire solicitor who moved thousands of pounds from
clients' accounts to his own firm has been suspended for five years. |
BBC News |
11 Sept 2003 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A London solicitor, Andrew
Warren, has pleaded guilty to attempted racketeering in connection with an
international stock fraud conspiracy that operated in New York and Britain,
prosecutors said Thursday. Warren is a former partner of London solicitors
Talbot, Greggy & Co |
Forbes |
01 July 2003 |
A North Devon solicitor, Philip Huxtable, has been
struck off for overcharging clients by more than £100,000. |
BBC
News |
01 July 2003 |
A high flying solicitor, Adrian Jackman, who swindled
nearly £2m from clients to spend on his mistress and foreign investments,
has been struck off. |
BBC
News |
01 July 2003 |
The North Yorkshire solicitor, Jeremy Cave, found
guilty of stealing almost £155,000 from the estates of his dead clients has
been struck off the Solicitors' roll. |
BBC
News |
01 July 2003 |
A former solicitor, Shirley Harrison, has been
sentenced to three years in prison for taking more than £400,000 left to
people in wills. |
BBC
News |
29 June 2003 |
Solicitors' offices raided. Drug
trafficking and money laundering in Lancashire and West Yorkshire. The Law
Society claims to have been helping the police in the investigations leading
to the raids. |
BBC News |
26 June 2003 |
Solicitor jailed for theft
A struggling Sussex solicitor who
plundered the estate of a dead couple has been jailed for nine months. Jill
Radford, 54 and a mother of six, cashed cheques totalling £45,505 over 18
months from money left in the wills of Mr and Mrs Duggan while working as
executor to their estate. |
The Argus |
21 Jun 2003 |
Crooked lawyer struck off
A CROOKED solicitor who raided
clients' bank accounts while his business partner was seriously ill has been
struck off. Pamela Higab was battling cancer when officials launched a probe
into Philip Pressler. But Higab was brought before a tribunal as a result of
Pressler's transfers. She accepted two breaches of the profession's rules
over the scandal at Hindle, Son and Cooper Solicitors, Darwen, but was
cleared of all blame after it was accepted she could not have known Pressler
was on the fiddle. Ian Ryan, for the Law Society, said Pressler transferred
£87,255 from clients' accounts into his own account on four occasions
between February 17, 1998, and May 5, 2001. |
Lancashire Evening Telegraph |
21 May 2003 |
Jail term for crooked lawyer
A lawyer who embezzled money from
his clients to fund his extravagant lifestyle has been jailed for 11 years.
Alastair Hall, from Perthshire, stole about £500,000 worth of cash and
shares, often from elderly clients and used the money to pay for shooting
and fishing weekends. |
BBC |
25 Mar 2003 |
Solicitor stole up to £326,000
in aid fraud
A CORRUPT solicitor was jailed
for five years yesterday for a "long-standing, skilful and deliberate" fraud
of the legal aid fund. John Tate submitted thousands of bogus green forms
claiming fees for work he said he had carried out on behalf of clients.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that the 50-year-old submitted 8,000 bogus
claims between 1996 and 1999 using names of clients he met at job clubs some
years earlier. |
Northern Echo |
26 Feb 2003 |
Solicitor jailed over cheques
deal
A LAWYER'S career lay in ruins
today after he was jailed for 18 months for his part in a scam involving
£1.2m worth of stolen travellers cheques. Yasin Mohamed, 29, helped dispose
of some of the cheques stolen in a raid at Heathrow Airport. Mohamed, who
co-ordinated deals from his solicitor's practice in Oldham, was arrested
after selling £15,000 of stolen cheques to an undercover police officer. |
Manchester News |
5 Jul 2002 |
Solicitor stole
over four years
A DISHONEST solicitor, who helped
himself to £19,000 from clients after they sent in the money to pay off
medical bills, has been struck off. Paul Rowlands, aged 35, pocketed the
cash over a four-year period while working at law firms. |
This is Lancashire |
01 Jun 2002 |
Solicitor struck off for using
clients' money
A PENARTH solicitor has been
struck off after using £12,000 from his firm's client account. Nigel
Richardson, 54, of Park Road, even made a credit card payment of £1,500 out
of the money, a solicitors' disciplinary tribunal heard last Thursday. |
This is Penarth |
17 Jan 2002 |
Solicitor stole from aunt, 91
A
MILLIONAIRE solicitor who stole more than £73,000 from his 91-year-old aunt
so he could buy a boat was jailed for six months yesterday. The money
was meant to pay her rest home fees. But the court was told that David
Benham, 59, sold two shares and used the proceeds to buy the £35,000 boat. |
Telegraph |
11 Dec 2001 |
Money Laundering Solicitor
Struck Off
A Finchley solicitor who was
jailed for seven years in February this year for money laundering was struck
off by a disciplinary committee last week. Louis Glatt, 54, of Chessington
Avenue, was found guilty of conspiring to launder almost £2.3million from
Southgate crime boss Ellis Martin's bootleg tobacco and alcohol trade,
through his Mayfair firm between October 1994 and January 1997 |
This is Local London |
10 Oct 2001 |
Solicitor on the run is struck
off
A solicitor stole more than
£250,000 from clients to pay off his debts before fleeing abroad, a tribunal
heard. David Rawlings, 55, used the money to pay for his children's public
school fees and his spiralling tax bill. |
This is Eastbourne |
29 Sept 2001 |
Solicitor jailed for stealing
clients' money
A SOLICITOR from Harpenden was
jailed for three years and nine months on Friday, August 31, for stealing a
third of a million pounds of clients' money. Myles McNulty, 37, of Granby
Avenue, bought expensive cars and paid off the loans and credit cards he
used to fund his lifestyle with his clients' cash Luton Crown Court was
told. |
This is Local London |
04 Sept 2001 |
Danbury: Solicitor struck off
in cash muddle
A solicitor has been struck off
at a disciplinary hearing. John Bacon, 57, appeared stunned when told of the
decision at the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal in central London. |
This is Essex |
28 Jul 2001 |
Embezzling solicitor jailed
A solicitor who was struck off after embezzling more than £63,000 has been
jailed for five and a half years. Donald Pirie, 41, took money from clients
for more than three years to keep his debt-ridden practice in Cowdenbeath
going. |
BBC |
02 Aug 2000 |
Solicitor found guilty of
misconduct
A SOLICITOR who acted for clients
against a firm of which he was a director has been struck off after being
found guilty of professional misconduct. Philip Redfern, aged 51, of Pendle
View, Brockhall Village, Old Langho, near Blackburn, who used to work in
Farnworth and Bury, had also breached undertakings and delayed in dealing
with conveyancing matters. |
This is Lancashire |
13 Jul 2000 |
Southend: Solicitor is struck
off
A solicitor has been struck off
for a catalogue of errors including borrowing £20,000 from an elderly woman
and not paying it back. A disciplinary tribunal also heard Anthony
Thipthorpe, 60, failed to safeguard a family's interests during a probate
dispute which allegedly cost them £50,000. |
This is Essex |
03 Dec 1999 |
Solicitor jailed for stealing
clients' funds
Michael James Palmer sentenced to
3 years imprisonment
The former senior partner of a leading firm of West End solicitors, Michael
James Palmer, ("Palmer") was sentenced today at the Central Criminal Court,
Old Bailey, in respect of 17 offences involving conspiracy to defraud,
theft, forgery and false accounting. Palmer pleaded guilty to these
offences, which arose out of his management of deceased clients' estates
involving a sum of over £250,000, at a previous hearing a month ago on 19
March 1999. |
Serious Fraud Office |
19 Apr 1999 |
Solicitor Struck Off After
Forging Will
A FORMER Greenwich solicitor has
been struck off after forging a client's will to make a profit.
Peter Casey Wells, who worked from offices in Greenwich High Road, was found
guilty of offences "so serious that it could only have one consequence" at a
tribunal last week. |
Enfield Independent |
05 Dec 1998 |
Lawyer lashed by judge
A SOLICITOR faces a further
investigation after she was fined £1,500 for being in contempt of court by a
High Court judge. Lawyer Miss Bushra Anwar was accused of "disgraceful
behaviour" by the judge, Mr Justice Sachs, who ordered that a copy of his
ruling be sent to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors. The
Blackburn-based lawyer - the first Asian woman in East Lancashire to have
her own legal practice - was also ordered to pay damages of £1,000 to Mr
Mohammed Afzal for loss of his reputation, as well as a further £57 for
damages to his property and part of his legal fees.Sitting at the High Court
in Manchester, Mr Sachs told Miss Anwar that it would be "outrageous" if she
was to "escape the consequences of her disgraceful behaviour". |
This is Lancashire |
26 Sept 1996 |