Gboyega Ajibola Okunniga

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

Mr Okunniga, a consultant solicitor at Clifton Law Limited, faced four allegations all founded on dishonesty arising from his work for clients Mr and Mrs A. Allegation 1 (proved): during Coventry County Court proceedings (25 Sep 2020-22 Jun 2022) he gave misleading written and oral evidence by fabricating the existence of a merger between his trading name (Company X) and the clients' gold-trading company (Company A) to explain why he received nine client payments for legal fees into his personal bank accounts. Allegation 2 (proved): in 2019 he issued four unauthorised invoices to Mr and Mrs A and pursued payment for fees not owed to the Firm. Allegation 3 (proved): in January 2019 he sent two misleading letters on the Firm's letterhead purporting to act for the Firm regarding a gold transfer and falsely describing himself as "Head of International Trade and Arbitration." Allegation 4 (not proved): alleged misleading evidence in enforcement proceedings about beneficial ownership of his property/Trust Deed. The Tribunal took into account but did not simply adopt DJ Gilmore's judgments, analysing the documentary evidence and the absence of evidence (particularly regarding the merger). It found Allegations 1-3 proved including dishonesty, and Allegation 4 not proved. Finding no exceptional circumstances, the Tribunal struck Mr Okunniga off the Roll of Solicitors.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty found in respect of Allegations 1-3
• Conduct involved misleading a court in written and oral evidence
• Fabrication of a merger to conceal misappropriation of client payments
• Pursued payment of unauthorised invoices
• Falsely held himself out as 'Head of International Trade and Arbitration' on Firm letterhead