Andrew Adeniyi Abereoji

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

The Respondent, an assistant solicitor, was convicted on 4 January 2013 of two counts of fraud by abuse of position and sentenced to 28 months imprisonment, having defrauded his employer and members of the public of £27,570 over nearly five years. The Tribunal proceeded in his absence, found the conviction breached Principle 6, and concluded there were no exceptional circumstances. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £1,560, not to be enforced without leave of the Tribunal due to his lack of means. Although the underlying offence was fraud, the Tribunal made no express finding of dishonesty itself but relied on the conviction breaching Principle 6.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations

Aggravating factors:

• Degree of planning, including fabricated receipts and VAT invoices to cover criminal activity
• Offending carried out over a significant period (nearly five years)
• Abuse of position of trust
• Fraud of £27,570
• Damage to reputation of employer and profession

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary matters
• Previously of good character

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["review_dishonesty_finding_cue_present"]