David Masao Saito

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

Longtime BC lawyer David Masao Saito admitted seven allegations of professional misconduct arising from fraudulent and improper expense and disbursement claims against his law firm between 2007 and 2012, including false/inflated medical expense claims ($30,156.31), duplicate expense reimbursements ($8,014.40), inflated mileage claims ($11,281.69), improper firm-paid family estate disbursements ($15,167.70), and improper self-reimbursements from trust and general accounts, plus a trust accounting breach. The admissions used 'ought to have known' language and the tribunal made no express finding of dishonesty. Under an Agreed Statement of Facts, he undertook for five years not to apply for reinstatement or for membership in any other law society without notice, and not to work for any BC lawyer/firm without Discipline Committee consent. The Firm was reimbursed for its losses. No fine or costs order stated.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Repeated and systematic conduct over multiple years (2007-2012)
• Substantial amounts involved across numerous transactions
• Conduct involved falsely described claims and requesting cheques be issued so he could deposit them

Mitigating factors:

• Self-reported to the Law Society after termination
• Prior serious health issues (heart attack and stroke in 2010)
• Cooperated by entering an Agreed Statement of Facts and admitting misconduct
• Ensured the Firm and affected estate were reimbursed/made whole for losses

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_suspension_months=60"]