Jasbinder Singh Sohal

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

Mr Sohal, sole owner and director of Sterlingking Limited, was found to have made 14 improper payments totalling £2,852,000 from the firm's client account to Person C or other third parties between August 2018 and February 2019, causing a client account shortage. The Tribunal found these breaches of SRA Principles and Accounts Rules and made an express finding of dishonesty under the Ivey test. He was also convicted of stalking his former partner (Protection from Harassment Act 1997) and failed to notify the SRA of the conviction, breaching SRA Principles 2 and 5 and paragraph 7.6(a). The Respondent did not engage with proceedings or attend the hearing, which proceeded in his absence after an adjournment application was refused. The Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered costs of £16,280.50.

Duties found breached:

• No abuse of process or coercive powers
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Self-report to the regulator

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty alleged and proven
• Misconduct deliberate, calculated and repeated over a period of time
• Abuse of position of authority handling client money
• Concealment of wrongdoing from clients
• Placed blame on others (alleged unproven blackmail; blamed victim of stalking)
• Knew or ought to have known conduct breached obligations to protect public and reputation of profession
• Deliberately targeted a vulnerable person
• Misconduct involved a form of violence (stalking)

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings
• Made early admissions for some of the improper payments