Anthony Scott WOOD

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Anthony Scott Wood, a solicitor admitted in 1984 and managing partner of a Brisbane firm, was convicted on his own plea of two counts of fraud and one count of forgery and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Between 2003 and 2008 he dishonestly misappropriated funds from his firm's trust account and dishonestly obtained loans from financiers to cover the misappropriations, taking money from one client to pay another. The Fidelity Guarantee Fund paid over $1.245 million to defrauded clients. QCAT found the conduct amounted to professional misconduct demonstrating he was not a fit and proper person to practise, ordered his name removed from the local Roll and ordered him to pay costs of $1,500.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• No improper use of client money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Large sums involved - Fidelity Guarantee Fund paid over $1.245 million to defrauded clients
• Abuse of position as trustee of clients' funds
• Systematic and prolonged conduct between 2003 and 2008
• 10 year prison sentence imposed
• Was managing partner of a law firm

Mitigating factors:

• Pleaded guilty to criminal charges
• Did not oppose or dispute the disciplinary findings and orders