Yunus Agboola Alatise

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

Yunus Agboola Alatise, a sole practitioner, received a £30,000 security deposit cheque from client Mr TS for a property purchase but paid it into office account rather than client account, transferring only £20,000 to the seller's solicitors and retaining £10,000 for his own business expenses, falsely claiming it was a personal loan. He also failed to pay Mr TK's damages of £7,953 into client account. The Tribunal rejected the loan story, found Mr TS a credible witness, and found the £10,000 misappropriation was dishonest under the Twinsectra test (both objective and subjective limbs satisfied). Allegations 1.1 and 1.2 were found proved; allegation 1.3 was dismissed on a technical basis regarding the specific rule cited. With no exceptional circumstances, the Respondent was struck off and ordered to pay £12,000 costs (not enforceable without leave). His subsequent High Court appeal was dismissed with £5,500 costs.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty proven
• Conduct was deliberate
• Fabricated a story of a loan to conceal his actions
• More than one client suffered loss (Mr TS and Mr TK)
• Failed to make good the clients' losses
• Showed little insight

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary matters