News Roundup
A selection of solicitors and other lawyers in the news since 1996
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Also see: Miners' Claims News for reporting on solicitors' involvement in misdirecting compensation intended for sick miners.
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Solicitors and other lawyers making the news. 1996 to present |
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Also check: The Serious Fraud Office publications about solicitors' involvement in serious frauds |
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Title and description of item or excerpt. |
Links - the full story |
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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. |
01 May 2008 |
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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." |
13 Apr |
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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. |
08 Apr 2008 |
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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. |
08 Apr 2008 |
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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. |
01 Apr 2008 |
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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. |
20 Mar 2008 |
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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. |
17 Mar 2008 |
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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. |
14 Mar 2008 |
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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. |
23 Feb 2008 |
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Solicitor guilty of £1.2m fraud A solicitor who conned
more than £1m from a disabled client has been found guilty of fraud. |
22 Feb 2008 |
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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. |
17 Nov 2007 |
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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.” |
02 Nov 2007 |
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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”. |
27 Oct 2007 |
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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. |
16 Oct 2007 |
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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. |
10 Oct 2007 |
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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. |
10 Oct 2007 |
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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. |
27 Jul 2007 |
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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. |
18 Jul 2007 |
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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. |
06 Jul 2007 |
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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) |
06 Jun 2007 |
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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) |
04 Jun 2007 |
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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. |
12 May 2007 |
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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." |
29 Mar 2007 |
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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. |
22 Feb 2007 |
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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. |
07 Feb 2007 |
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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." |
26 Jan 2007 |
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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) |
25 Jan 2007 |
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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. |
16 Jan 2007 |
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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. |
11 Jan 2007 |
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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. |
09 Jan 2007 |
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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. |
19 Dec 2006 |
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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. |
28 Oct 2006 |
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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. |
24 Oct 2006 |
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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". |
19 Oct 2006 |
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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." |
See also: And: |
18 Oct 2006 |
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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." |
30 Sep 2006 |
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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. |
27 Sep 2006 |
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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. |
14 Sep 2006 |
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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. |
14 Sep 2006 |
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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. |
23 Aug 2006 |
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Lawyer forged contract and then lied to tribunal Temporarily removed 29 Aug |
Bournemouth Echo |
14 Aug 2006 |
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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) |
03 Aug 2006 |
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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'. |
02 Aug 2006 |
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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) |
01 Aug 2006 |
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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." |
24 Jul 2006 |
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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. |
01 Jul 2006 |
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Solicitor jailed for sale link |
Shropshire Star - link removed. |
20 Jun 2006 |
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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. |
08 Jun 2006 |
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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. |
30 May 2006 |
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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. |
26 May 2006 |
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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. |
26 May 2006 |
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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. |
23 May 2006 |
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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. |
06 May 2006 |
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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. |
27 Apr 2006 |
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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. |
27Apr 2006 |
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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. |
21 Apr 2006 |
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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) |
05 Apr 2006 |
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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. |
16 Mar 2006 |
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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) |
15 Mar 2006 |
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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. |
28 Feb 2006 |
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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. |
07 Feb 2006 |
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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. |
06 Feb 2006 |
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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. |
06 Feb 2006 |
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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. |
28 Jan 2006 |
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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. |
25 Jan 2006 |
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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. |
02 Dec 2005 |
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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. |
26 Nov 2005 |
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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. |
03 Nov 2005 |
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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... |
31 Oct 2005 |
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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. |
17 Oct 2005 |
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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. |
16 Sept 2005 |
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Solicitor abused client's child A solicitor has been
jailed for grooming the 10-year-old daughter of a client before abusing her.
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30 Aug 2005 |
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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 |
30 Aug 2005 |
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LAWYER STOLE £108K A FORMER solicitor faces jail after admitting embezzling £108,000 from clients when his firm plunged into debt. |
13 Aug 2005 |
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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. |
03 Aug 2005 |
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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. |
15 Jul 2005 |
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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. |
13 Jul 2005 |
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£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. |
01 Jul 2005 |
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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. |
29 Jun 2005 |
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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. |
20 Jun 2005 |
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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. |
07 Jun 2005 |
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Thousands sought from con lawyer A former lawyer who
swindled clients out of almost £700,000 has been ordered to pay back
£100,000. |
04 Jun 2005 |
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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. |
04 Jun 2005 |
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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,... |
27 Apr 2005 |
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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. |
28 Apr 2005 |
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Immigrant visa scam lawyer
jailed |
25 Apr 2005 |
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Barrist | ||
Solicitors
face tough drive over competence