Joe Morgan

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

Joseph Morgan, sole director of Document Certifier Ltd, operated a website certifying documents as true copies of originals he had seen, when he had only seen uploaded/scanned electronic copies, not the originals. He had previously entered into a Regulatory Settlement Agreement (RSA) on 18 August 2022 admitting this very conduct, yet continued certifying documents in the same way thereafter. The Tribunal found all three allegations proved, holding that certification requires sight of the original document and that an uploaded scan could only be a generational version, not the original. His use of Google AI verification was irrelevant. The Tribunal found breaches of Principles 2 and 5 and Code paragraphs 1.4, 7.2 and 7.3. While the Tribunal found a lack of integrity and that he misled the regulator and clients, it made no express finding of dishonesty. The conduct was found deliberate, calculated and self-interested with no mitigating factors sufficient to reduce seriousness. He was struck off and ordered to pay costs of £35,640.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No conflict between current clients
• Cooperate openly with regulators
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated
• Took place over a long period (June 2021 to September 2024)
• Breached obligation to protect public and maintain confidence in the profession
• Breached the terms of the RSA and failed to seek clarification from the SRA
• Added wording to certificates after the RSA that did not change the flawed basis of certification
• Showed no remorse or understanding of harm caused
• Motivation was self-interest

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings other than the RSA rebuke
• Some degree of cooperation with the SRA following the complaint