Solicitor suspended for allowing their firm to be used as a banking facility for over £30m.
The owner of a firm based in central London has been arrested by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on suspicion of offences relating to money laundering. This was disclosed to the public following a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT)’s judgment.
Following an extensive search warrant at the firm’s premises, which resulted in the seizure of a number of hard copy files, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) commissioned its own forensic investigation.
It has been reported that between May 2014 and October 2017, the firm received £31.9m into its client account in respect of six matters and, according to its own records, paid out £28.3m.
All transactions related to a particular client referred to as Person A, whom the solicitor in question described as a “substantial client of the firm accounting for about 10% of its turnover”. The SDT later disclosed that no underlying legal transactions were discovered that justified the payments and that the solicitor in question had allowed them to be made.
The solicitor in question also made the admission that the firm’s client account had been “used as a banking facility, for no other reason than the convenience of the client” – more details here.
According to the SDT’s report, “There was no evidence discovered by the Forensic Investigating Officer to suggest the respondent ever questioned Person A to ask why he was being asked to receive/make payment of funds and for what purpose. This was despite the significant amount of payments made to third parties across all six matters.”
The solicitor also admitted to continuing to authorise transactions over a thirty-nine-month period. In mitigation, however, the solicitor clarified that none of the transactions resulted in loss to any client or third party and that no profit was gained from them.
The SDT remarked that the misconduct “fell within the range to merit striking off from the roll”. An indefinite restriction order in addition to a 12-month suspension, was furthermore agreed upon and will prevent the solicitor from practising as
- A sole practitioner
- A sole manager
- A sole owner of an authorised or recognised body
- A freelance solicitor
- A solicitor in an unregulated organisation
- Head of legal practice/compliance officer for legal practice
- Head of finance and administration/compliance officer for finance and administration; holding client money and being a signatory on any client account.
Source: here
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