Christopher Yiannakas; Nicholas George Kephalas; YVA Solicitors LLP

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

On an agreed outcome dealt with on the papers, the Tribunal found that YVA Solicitors LLP (with partners Mr Yiannakas, the Firm's COLP/COFA, and Mr Kephalas) breached Rule 2.5 of the SRA Accounts Rules 2019 by retaining £12,800,000 of commercial property sale proceeds in the client account between August 2021 and September 2022 when there was no longer any proper reason to do so, plus related Code for Firms and Principles breaches. Allegations under Rule 3.3 and relating to a £355,000 refinance payment were withdrawn. The Tribunal rejected the proposed reprimand for the individuals as insufficient and instead imposed fines. No dishonesty was alleged or found; breaches were inadvertent and no loss or harm to clients resulted.

Duties found breached:

• Firm governance, systems and compliance
• Full disclosure on ex parte applications
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money