Christopher Michael Bilmes

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

Christopher Michael Bilmes, a member and COLP/COFA of Bilmes LLP, admitted seven allegations including five of dishonesty. He allowed a minimum client account cash shortage of £1,767,322.15, failed to remedy it, improperly transferred £1,316,146 from client to office account (much diverted to family-connected entities), failed to keep proper accounting records, made untrue statements to HMRC about an SDLT payment for Client A, and failed to redeem mortgages for Clients B and C despite holding sale proceeds. The Tribunal, dealing with the matter on the papers via an agreed outcome, found the dishonesty admissions properly made and ordered he be struck off the Roll and pay costs of £18,600.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Integrity
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Not misrepresent regulated status

Aggravating factors:

• Very substantial client account shortage of £1,767,322.15
• Five admitted allegations of dishonesty
• Improper transfers of £1,316,146 from client to office account, largely to entities connected to Respondent and family
• Untrue statements to HMRC regarding SDLT payment
• Failure to redeem mortgages for two clients despite holding funds
• Failure to cooperate with the SRA investigation
• Significant harm to clients and Compensation Fund (paid out over £2.6m)

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent suffered from complex mental health conditions supported by expert medical evidence (advanced by Respondent, not endorsed by SRA)
• Admitted all allegations and agreed the outcome