Andre Michael Wormstone

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

The Respondent was convicted on indictment at Leicester Crown Court on 7 February 2013 of entering into or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement contrary to s.328(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and sentenced on 14 February 2013 to 30 months' imprisonment. The offence concerned £2,036,000 diverted from the University of Sussex into a frozen NatWest account; the Respondent forwarded a letter to NatWest in connection with an attempt to unfreeze the funds. He was sentenced on the basis that he suspected (not knew) the funds were criminal property. The Tribunal could not go behind the conviction and found the allegation proved beyond reasonable doubt. The proceedings were dealt with in the Respondent's absence; he admitted the conviction but protested innocence and intended to appeal. Only the money laundering allegation in the third supplementary statement was determined; earlier allegations were left to lie on file. The only proportionate sanction was striking off.

Duties found breached:

• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• No conflict between current clients
• AML and crime-prevention compliance

Aggravating factors:

• Serious criminal offence committed in the course of practise as a solicitor
• Sentenced to a term of imprisonment (30 months)
• Used his professional status, of special value to money launderers, to attempt to free frozen funds
• Deliberately turned a blind eye to suspicion that he was dealing with criminal property
• Failed to carry out his duties to investigate his suspicions as a solicitor

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings
• No apparent financial gain from his actions
• Psychiatric report elicited a degree of sympathy
• Engaged with proceedings and admitted the conviction