A solicitor who posed as a fellow company director - even going as far as faking a signature - to secure his company a loan has been struck off the roll. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that Stuart Nuttall obtained the corporate loan for his private security business, Sentium Group Limited, by making a series of misrepresentations.
Nuttall used a false company email address in his fellow director’s name, electronically signed a document and impersonated the director on the phone to the loan company. This caused the director to be named as a personal guarantor, despite their having no knowledge about the loan until they were advised of a default.
In a letter to the loan company, Nuttall admitted to wrongfully taking out the loan. He stated that he had indemnified his fellow director against any costs arising.
The tribunal said his conduct was ‘clearly dishonest’ as well as calculated and deliberate. The case threw up a question over whether the tribunal had jurisdiction to sanction Nuttall. He had qualified as a solicitor in 1997 but did not hold a practising certificate when the misconduct took place in 2018.
Even though the conduct occurred outside of legal practice, the tribunal considered it was relevant to Nuttall’s standing as a solicitor and would reasonably concern the public and thereby would engage the SRA principles. This meant that the conduct crossed the threshold identified in Beckwith v Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Nuttall was not represented at the tribunal and did not appear. He had made no attempt to engage with the disciplinary process since August 2024.
In his absence, he was also found to have falsely represented a counsel’s clerk that he had authorised a payment of £1,200 when he had not done so. He also failed to co-operate with the SRA during its investigation, having asserted at one time he was too unwell to comply with requests for information but failing to provide any medical evidence to prove it.
The tribunal struck him off and ordered him to pay £7,603 costs.
