Max Kingsley (Moshe Keshet)

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

The respondent, an unqualified solicitor's clerk, repeatedly held himself out as a solicitor and made untrue statements and submitted forged references to several lending institutions (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society) to obtain mortgage advances, falsely claiming to be a solicitor with inflated income and length of employment. He had a prior 1987 conviction for pretending to be qualified as a solicitor. The Tribunal found the allegations substantiated, held his dishonesty to be very grave, and made a Section 43(2) order restricting his employment within the profession, plus costs of £3,176.97.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Personal probity and fitness to practise

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct at the highest end of the scale of seriousness
• Persistent and repeated conduct over several years
• Prior conviction under Section 21 of the Solicitors Act 1974 for pretending to be a qualified solicitor
• Use of forged references and documents
• Failure to disclose contemporaneous loan applications