Tevfick Souleiman

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

The Respondent was convicted at the Central Criminal Court of conspiracy to facilitate a breach of UK immigration law, possessing criminal property, and conspiracy to cheat the Public Revenue, and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. The convictions related to at least 63 sham marriages between 2004 and 2011, with the Respondent using his firm's name to lend authenticity to the scheme. The Tribunal found all three allegations proved (breaches of Principles 1, 2 and 6), finding a lack of integrity but not making an express finding of dishonesty. The Respondent was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £2,665.54.

Duties found breached:

• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct was pre-meditated, deliberate and calculated
• Conduct took place over a lengthy period from 2004 to 2011
• Repeated at least 63 times with large sums of money involved
• Abuse of a position of trust over a lengthy period
• Exploitation of many vulnerable men and women for commercial motivation
• Immense damage caused to the reputation of the profession
• Respondent ought reasonably to have known the conduct breached his obligations

Mitigating factors:

• Apologised and admitted the allegations
• No previous disciplinary matters