Matthew G J Roddan

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

Respondent, a partner/director at Eastleys solicitors, made false representations and gave undertakings to the R family and to investor CM claiming to act for PCL when he did not, failed to undertake adequate due diligence, ignored the SRA warning notice on fraudulent financial arrangements, provided banking facilities through client account, failed to carry out reconciliations, and lied to the SRA by claiming documents were lost when he held them. The Tribunal found dishonesty proved in respect of the false statements in letters to the R family and CM (Allegations 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.6) and in misleading the regulator (1.4), but not in respect of the incomplete due diligence checks or failure to consider the warning notice. He was struck off and ordered to pay costs of £27,786. The hearing proceeded in his absence.

Duties found breached:

• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Cooperate openly with regulators
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty
• Made false/misleading statements to third parties and lied to regulator
• Repeated misconduct
• Concealment of own wrongdoing
• 18 years' post-qualification experience with direct control and responsibility
• High level of culpability

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary matters
• Admissions made reflecting limited insight
• Misconduct was reactive rather than planned; did not set out to be dishonest