The head of accounts at failed firm PM Law has been barred from working in the legal profession for a string of financial infringements.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority found that Jonathan Bostock, formerly compliance officer with the collapsed Sheffield-based group, caused or allowed withdrawals from the client accounts and fabricated the bank balances to give a misleading impression.
Bostock also failed to report that PM Law was experiencing serious financial difficulty. He also provided the SRA with documents and information which he knew or ought to have known were misleading.
The regulator has already revealed that as much as £39.5m in client money could be missing from the PM Law group, which had trading names across England. The business shut overnight in February, causing the loss of hundreds of jobs and distress for clients, some of who were poised to complete on house purchases.
As of mid-April, the SRA had paid £9.3m in 92 claims to former clients of the group’s firms from the compensation fund.
Bostock, a chartered accountant, exercised senior managerial and financial authority across the firm, including oversight of its financial controls. He led the accounts team and reported to solicitor Donald Mackay, the firm's owner and chairman.
PM Law notified the SRA on 2 February of serious concerns around the misuse of client money which may have left the business effectively insolvent. Two days later, the SRA intervened to shut down all but one of the firms that were within the group to protect the interests of clients.
The SRA said today that Bostock had committed ‘serious breaches of regulatory duties’ owed by him as head of finance and manager at the firm.
He was disqualified from working for any regulated firm and ordered to pay £1,350 costs.
