Akin Joseph Adaramaja

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

The Respondent, retained to defend the Complainant in a property sale dispute, received J$3,906,505.00 (about US$47,066.32) in sale proceeds on 9 December 2009 but concealed this from his elderly client and misappropriated the money. When confronted by the Complainant's agent in September 2012, he admitted taking the money citing financial problems but never repaid it. The Panel found the complaint proved beyond reasonable doubt, expressly finding the Respondent acted dishonestly in breach of Canons VII(b) and I(b). Applying Bolton v Law Society, he was struck off the Roll, ordered to make restitution of US$47,066.32 and US$1,732.93 (travel costs) with 3% interest, and to pay costs of J$40,000.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Abuse of trust of an elderly client aged 82 residing overseas
• Concealment of receipt of sale proceeds from the client
• Failure to respond to the complaint
• Client put to difficulty of laying complaint through agent and travelling to Jamaica to give evidence