Trevor Ruddock

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

Attorney Trevor Ruddock was retained to handle the sale of inherited property at 117 Great Georges Street. He received a $10,000,000 deposit but failed to account for the funds, failed to stamp the agreement, failed to keep the client informed and failed to complete the transaction. The panel found beyond reasonable doubt that he dishonestly misappropriated $6,880,159.00 and converted it to his own use. He was found guilty of professional misconduct (breaches of Canons IV(r), VII(b)(ii) and I(b)) and struck off the Roll, ordered to make restitution with 12% interest, pay interest on the $2.5m already returned, and pay $100,000 costs.

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonest misappropriation of client funds of $6,880,159.00 converted to own use
• Position of trust/fiduciary relationship breached
• Failure to account or produce evidence funds held on trust
• Prolonged delay (agreement 2002, unresolved by 2008)

Mitigating factors:

• Paid over $2,500,000 to complainant's new attorneys before conclusion of proceedings

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_costs_amount=100000"]