Donovan Occonor Malcolm

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

Attorney Donovan Malcolm acted for vendors in a land sale to the Complainant. He received J$11,553,332.50 from the Complainant but remitted only J$5,000,000 to Clough Long & Co., leaving J$6,553,332.50 unaccounted for, and failed to deliver the title. He registered a vendors' mortgage of J$8,611,000 on the title rather than the agreed J$5,199,480, and provided the Complainant a copy of title showing the lower agreed amount (alleged to be falsified). Despite the mortgage being satisfied in full, he neither discharged it nor delivered the Duplicate Certificate of Title. He took J$630,000 and J$750,000 in legal fees for change-of-use and covenant modification applications which he did not perform or refund. He admitted via WhatsApp that he had "done a wrongful act" and used her money, asking for time to "work back the monies." The Panel found him guilty of breaching Canons I(b) and VII(b) beyond reasonable doubt. No express finding of dishonesty was made, and sanction was deferred to a later mitigation hearing.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Failure to attend or participate in the hearing despite multiple adjournments and extensions
• Complainant travelled from overseas multiple times for hearings
• Costs previously awarded for the Attorney's absence had not been paid
• Attorney admitted using the client's money
• Failed to perform paid legal work and did not refund fees