Former City partner gets three years for £1.3m fraud

A former Hogan Lovells partner has been jailed for three years after defrauding his firm of £1.3m.

Christopher Grierson (pictured) was sentenced today at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty in March to four charges of false accounting. Grierson, who was dismissed by his firm in May 2011, was charged by the City of London Police following an internal investigation by Hogan Lovells’ transatlantic finance team. He stole the money over a four-year period through false travel expenses.

Detective chief inspector Perry Stokes, who led the police investigation, said the former litigation partner’s ‘greed’ had been his downfall. ‘He abused his status as a well-respected partner within a high-profile law firm to steal more than a million pounds from the company.

‘This was a serious breach of trust and once he started offending, it was inevitable that he would come to our notice. The sentence passed today demonstrates how seriously the court views such cases.’

Grierson, who qualified as a solicitor 36 years ago, agreed to pay back the full sum within 14 days.

Hogan Lovells said last May that no clients were affected by his claims and that Grierson acted entirely on his own. Sentencing was postponed from 3 May after a request from his defence team.