Rehab: Treatment never actually happened
A solicitor who diverted some of his client’s damages to a rehabilitation company connected to his wife – and created fake invoices that said it had treated the client – has been struck off.
Fasar Mahmood also initially lied to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) about his connection with Core Rehab Ltd.
Mr Mahmood admitted the allegations made against him, which included that he had acted dishonestly and with a lack of integrity.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) said that, whilst it noted his “earnest apology and his full explanation for his conduct”, he had embarked on a course of “calculated and outright dishonest behaviour”.
It approved the sanction proposed in an agreed statement of facts and outcome proposed by the SRA and Mr Mahmood, who qualified in 2018.
He was a consultant solicitor at West Yorkshire firm Tyler Hoffman at the time of the misconduct. He subsequently became a director of Fraser Masood Ltd, based in Huddersfield and where he held both compliance roles.
The SDT heard that, in March 2019, ‘Client OB’ instructed Tyler Hoffman on a personal injury claim through a contact at the firm, Anil Basra, provided by a friend.
Mr Basra sent the case of Mr Mahmood but, though the client knew he was doing the work, she continued to communicate on occasion with Mr Basra, who in turn would seek updates from Mr Mahmood.
The claim took just over three years to conclude, with “minimal contact” with Mr Basra or Mr Mahmood in that time.
After she received the settlement figure of £3,800, OB expressed her dissatisfaction to Mr Basra that it was much lower than she was expecting. She then had a call with Mr Mahmood, who told her that it was a good offer and so she accepted it.
However, the claim actually settled for £8,500 plus costs of £3,915.
The SRA established that £2,555 of the settlement money was used to pay Core Rehab for services that OB said she did not request or receive: physiotherapy treatment and a psychologist’s assessment.
The client contained attendance notes that recorded conversations with the client that purported to approve the Core services, as well as the psychologist’s report, but all of these turned out to be fake. None of the services were included in the schedule of costs sent to the insurer.
It turned out that Mr Mahmood’s wife was the sole signatory on one of Core Rehab’s four bank accounts, the one the firm paid the £2,555 into.
The SRA recorded that Mr Mahmood had instructed Core Rehab in numerous matters – between September 2018 and December 2022, it paid £266,000 into the Core Rehab bank accounts and Mr Mahmood received multiple payments totalling about £73,000 in return.
The agreed statement did not say what happened to the rest of OB’s settlement money.
Mr Mahmood then twice lied to the SRA about having a personal connection to Core Rehab.
The agreed statement said that, at the time he made these statements, Mr Mahmood knew his wife was the signatory of one of Core Rehab’s bank accounts; that the bank account was registered to his previous address and used an email address bearing his name; that he and his wife both personally received money from Core Rehab, and that his personal company both received money from, and paid money to, Core Rehab.
Mr Mahmood “admits seeking to conceal this information from the SRA as it would inevitably reveal the motivation behind the misappropriation of the client monies”, the statement said.
His mitigation was redacted except Mr Mahmood saying: “Once more I apologise to my family, the profession and the public at large and I do recognise, understand and appreciate the effect that my actions have had in a wider sense and specifically to the client whose file forms the basis of the charges against me.”
The SDT struck him off and ordered him to pay costs of £25,000.
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