Marshall Neil Craig Ronald

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

The Respondent, a sole practitioner, became involved in a dubious transaction to repatriate a stolen Da Vinci painting for a 20% finder's fee, failing to inform the police. He withdrew £638,500 from client account funds held for two brothers (T brothers) in a CPO matter, including £500,000 connected to the painting transaction and £138,500 for other unrelated matters/personal interests, without client authority. He acted with a conflict of interest (shareholder in Firemonkey with one brother) and failed to disclose relevant information to the other brother. The Tribunal applied the Twinsectra test and found dishonesty on allegation 2. All four allegations proved. Mitigation included bipolar disorder, type 2 diabetes, financial ruin, and no prior disciplinary record. Struck off the Roll; ordered to pay costs subject to detailed assessment, not to be enforced without leave of the Tribunal.

Duties found breached:

• Disclose material information to client
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Involvement in a transaction concerning stolen property valued in excess of £50m
• Agreement included a term that the police should not be informed
• Failed to notify police even when threatened and fearing for personal safety
• Used client money to finance his own personal interests
• Serious damage to reputation of the profession and risk to the public