Jasbinder Singh Sohal

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

Jasbinder Singh Sohal, sole owner/director, COLP and COFA of Sterlingking Limited, made 14 improper payments totalling £2,852,000 from the firm's client account between August 2018 and February 2019 to Person C or third parties at Person C's direction, using client money intended for property purchases for unrelated purposes and creating a client account shortage of the same amount. As the only signatory and authoriser of the payments, he misappropriated/misused client money. The Tribunal found Allegation 1.1 proved together with an express finding of dishonesty under the Ivey test. Additional Rule 14 allegations concerned a stalking conviction (Protection from Harassment Act 1997) and failure to notify the SRA of the conviction. The Respondent did not attend; his adjournment application (based on health and parallel criminal proceedings) was refused and the Tribunal proceeded in his absence. The SRA had intervened into the firm on 16 May 2023, and the Compensation Fund paid out £3,847,090.91 in total.

Duties found breached:

• Act in the client's best interests
• Integrity
• No conflict between current clients
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Not misrepresent regulated status
• Segregate client money
• Self-report to the regulator
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty found
• Misuse of substantial client funds (£2,852,000)
• Respondent was sole signatory, COLP, COFA and MLCO with full control
• Significant harm to clients whose property purchases were not completed and money not returned
• Compensation Fund required to pay out large sums
• Failure to engage with the regulator and the proceedings