By Gabriel Princewill-
A fraudulent solicitor who withdrew over £400,000 of his client’s money before disappearing was not arrested or charged by police, The Eye Of Media.Com has confirmed.
The SRA reported the incident to the Met police in 2018, but the Met confirmed to us that no arrests or charges have been made, and that the case is still ”a live one”. The admission is both shocking and disappointing, but The Met Police have not explained the reason the criminal solicitor is still on the loose.
One theory is that the victim did not pursue a criminal prosecution because he was compensated by the SRA. However, this should not have stopped the police pursuing a criminal investigation if they had evidence of the offence. The SRA was alerted about the criminal solicitor’s disappearance after a trainee solicitor of the firm raised the alarm. They immediately pursued an investigation and compensated the victim.
An SRA Spokesperson told The Eye Of Media.Com:
‘ The fraud was brought to our attention by a trainee solicitor at the firm so we launched an investigation and notified the police as is our duty in cases like this. We then reimbursed the victim of the amount they had been deprived of.
Victims can forward claims for an application from a large compensation fund of £2om which is funded by contributions from solicitors based on the perceived risks posed by a firm. It is a unique fund, no other organisation has such a fund to compensate victims.
Nicholas Paul Tsioupras, based in North London was struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal after being found to have dishonestly withdrawn over £400,000 pounds from his firm’s client account over the course of two months.
Tsioupras told the trainee solicitor at the time:
‘obviously there are going to be a few angry clients’ but that the closure of the firm would be covered by his indemnity insurance. The dodgy solicitor then went travelling abroad where he could enjoy his criminally acquired money without much interference.
Reports from the Solicitors Regulation Authority revealed that Tsioupras had withdrawn £415,221 from his client account over four transactions and £252,199 which had been transferred to an account in his name. The tribunal said the respondent’s conduct had been ‘disgraceful’ and caused his clients financial loss.
Tsioupra was asked to pay £8,361 in costs, but did not respond to the SRA at all, nor participate in the subsequent hearing by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. However, the SRA admitted that there is no way they can ensure their costs will be paid by the criminal solicitor because they can’t find him.