Hector Diaz Suner

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

Hector Diaz Suner, a Registered European Lawyer and sole principal of Hector Diaz & Co, admitted numerous breaches of the SRA Principles and Accounts Rules, including several admissions of dishonesty relating to withholding client money from client account, making non-client (personal) payments from client account, and failing to protect client money. Up to £216,837.21 was withheld in the office account, with £66,837.21 not returned to clients, and the firm kept virtually no accounting records. The parties submitted a Carecraft-style Statement of Agreed Facts, Admissions and Outcome. The Tribunal approved the agreed outcome (except paragraph 40), dismissing the two unadmitted allegations rather than leaving them on file. The Respondent was struck off the Register of European Lawyers and ordered to pay agreed costs of £19,998.50.}}</summary>

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Act in the client's best interests
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Segregate client money
• No improper use of client money
• Prompt accounting and return of money
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Diligence and timeliness
• Cooperate openly with regulators

Aggravating factors:

• Multiple admissions of dishonesty regarding client money
• Client money withheld from client account of up to £216,837.21, with £66,837.21 not returned
• Personal payments made from client account (salaries, rent, daughter's accommodation)
• Failure to complete Spanish registration and tax formalities leaving clients unaware
• Failure to pay Spanish Inheritance Tax for the G Family Trust leading to Compensation Fund payout of £35,945.05
• Repeated failure to cooperate with SRA and to renew registration despite prompting
• Admitted 'shying away' from SRA emails
• No adequate accounting records maintained, shortfall of unknown extent

Mitigating factors:

• Cooperated by signing a Statement of Agreed Facts, Admissions and Outcome
• Made admissions including to dishonesty
• Claimed loss caused partly by insolvent Spanish Gestore
• Claimed to have made some payments to rectify shortfall from family loans