Solicitor jailed for stealing £850,000 from clients
A sole practitioner from north-west London has been jailed for two years after he confessed to stealing more than £850,000 from clients.
David May, 69, destroyed a 46-year unblemished reputation in the profession after dipping regularly into a £280,000 estate he was handling, and writing up 56 bogus bills for non-existent work – costing unsuspecting clients more than £70,000.
May, a sole practitioner at May & Co of Edgware Road, Kingsbury, in north-west London, admitted to stealing £861,645.28 from his firm’s client account between 13 July 2006 and 9 May 2009.
Prosecutor Brett Weaver said the money went on personal living expenses and running his practice. ‘His professional indemnity insurance costs increased and the firm was not earning enough to cover the expenses of the business and his personal costs,’ said Weaver. ‘He says he intended to repay the money, but things went spiralling out of control. He used the [client account] as his own personal bank account.’
A Solicitors Regulation Authority spokesman said that any clients who have lost money as a result of May’s dishonesty or failure to account will be reimbursed from the compensation fund. The SRA is currently dealing with about 20 applications relating to the firm.
Southwark Crown Court recorder Andrew Campbell-Tiech QC said: ‘The public’s perception of lawyers, which for some may be low, can only be damaged. It is a gross breach of trust.’ He added: ‘He [May] must have known [this] would be uncovered and must have spent much time in secret terror.’
May, who told police his lifestyle was ‘good to extravagant’, has been ordered to repay £156,061 within six months or spend an extra two years in prison.
The City of London Police Economic Crime Directorate was called in by the SRA after May, a first-time offender, confessed to the thefts.
He told an SRA investigator that he had duped his accountant into believing the huge transfers were lawful, and after taking money from one estate, used another £360,000 estate to plug the gaps.
A total of 109 thefts of client money were identified during the period, and May stole at least £10,000 per month between 2006 and 2008.
May has been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for alleged breaches of accounts, code of conduct and practice rules. May & Co was closed down by the SRA in June on several grounds, including dishonesty.
Comments
More bad press!
I can feel nothing but shame on behalf of a profession that continually allows such fraud to happen without detection. How on earth did this deception continue for so long - surely this is the point of an independent audit? No doubt this will lead PII insurers to once again penalise honest and trustworthy Sole Practitioners when the renewal season comes around again.
In response to Disheartened,
In response to Disheartened, things like this happen because there is no rule or regulation which can possibly be invented that will prevent those who wish to do wrong from doing it. It is not "allowed" to happen, any more than any crime is.
No doubt it continued for so long because the practitioner was adept at the deception. However, it WAS discovered-that surely is the point.
Solicitors are as prone to frailty as the rest of the human race-but there is a system to compensate those affected.
Naturally the PII insurers will use any opportunity to increase premiums-they are businesses, not professions.
£425.000 per year in jail or
£425.000 per year in jail or is it 1yr for good behaviour, I need it more than you brigade, trust me I am a solicitor, they think the entrance to heaven is straight forward, get ready for the shock.