Roll on Friday
The owner of a firm has been struck off, after it emerged that he misappropriated over £163,000 of client funds.
Charles Ogbonna Azotam, admitted in 2013, was the sole principal at immigration firm Charles Hill & Co Solicitors, in London.
He took a light-fingered approach to his duties, transferring client money to the firm’s business account on numerous occasions which he then used for non-client expenditure such as a personal debt to BNP Paribas, rent for the firm’s office premises, a car dealer in Croydon, and various other improper payments.
Azotam was “unable to confirm” the number of transactions carried out, but the SRA noted that the client account was short of £163,122.83.
In one matter, noted by the SRA, the firm acted for a client in connection with the administration of her father’s estate. After deduction of the firm’s fees, the beneficiaries of the estate were due a balance of just over £170k.
Azotam issued a cheque to the client of £122k, twice, despite knowing that the account did not hold sufficient funds to honour the cheque. On the second time that the cheque was issued, the client account balance held a paltry £6.28.
https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/law-firm-owner-struck-stealing-ps160k-client-money
https://clearwaylaw.com/lawyers/grtr-se58tr-charles-ogbonnaazotam
