In the joint-largest fine ever handed down to a law firm, in March Clyde & Co was hit with a £50,000 penalty for breaching accounting and money laundering rules. In a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) decision, Clydes corporate partners Christopher Duffy and Simon Gamblin, alongside projects partner Nick Purnell, all received individual fines of £10,000.
The charges related to the use of a client bank account as a banking facility, in direct breach of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)’s money laundering regulations. Duffy and Purnell admitted they failed to take on guidance of the Law Society’s rules on fraudulent financial arrangements in acting as an escrow agent on behalf of the client.
