Leo Benedict Michael Foster

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

Leo Foster, a senior solicitor and head of the London Debt and Equity Markets team at BNP Paribas, admitted creating and using inappropriate, unprofessional and offensive nicknames for colleagues (including 'Hu She' for an East Asian colleague, 'Mad Paul', 'Pol Pot', 'The idiot', 'Jabba the Hutt' and 'The Twittering Fool') and using offensive language in workplace emails between December 2020 and November 2021. The Tribunal found allegations 1.1 and 1.2 proved on the facts and that admissions were properly made, including admitted breaches of Principles 2, 5 and 6 (lack of integrity, not dishonesty). Two sub-allegations were withdrawn on proportionality grounds. The Tribunal imposed a fine of £15,000 (Level 3) and ordered costs of £16,000, reduced from the £23,768.40 claimed.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Deliberate, calculated and not spontaneous conduct
• Repeated over a period of 8 months
• Committed by an extremely experienced solicitor in a position of authority
• Knew or ought to have known conduct breached obligation to protect reputation of profession

Mitigating factors:

• Demonstrated insight and remorse
• Full and frank admissions
• Full cooperation with both the Bank's internal investigation and Tribunal proceedings
• Previously unblemished character over a long career
• Positive testimonials
• Conduct occurred during stressful Covid period and managerial changes
• No racist intention found
• Significant adverse financial and personal consequences already suffered