Anthony Burns

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

Anthony Burns, a sole practitioner, faced four allegations before the SDT and did not attend. The Tribunal found all allegations proved on unchallenged evidence: prolonged failure (over five years) to comply with a Legal Ombudsman Final Decision and subsequent county court order regarding trust funds; providing inaccurate/misleading information on two professional indemnity insurance proposal forms by deliberately omitting his 2008 money laundering conviction and multiple regulatory investigations (found dishonest under Ivey); and repeatedly failing to comply with court orders in an estate matter, including one with a penal notice, exposing himself to a contempt application for 153 days (found reckless). Given the express finding of dishonesty and absence of exceptional circumstances, the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered costs of £39,335.90.

Duties found breached:

• Comply with and respect court orders
• Handle inadvertently received material
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Proven dishonesty
• Conduct was planned/deliberate
• Harm to Person C and Charity A which was foreseeable
• Repeated failures to comply with regulatory and court obligations over extended periods
• Two previous SRA sanctions for failing to engage with LeO
• Recklessness (allegation 1.4)