Green: Mortgage paid off 10 years early
A solicitor jailed for 26 months last year for using drug money generated by his twin brother to pay a mortgage has been struck off.
Paul Simon Green was convicted at Southampton Crown Court of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and converting criminal property (money).
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) heard that Mr Green, 47, who qualified in 2008, was a litigator at Barlow Robbins (now Moore Barlow) in Surrey at the time of the offences between 2010 and 2015, before moving as to become a partner at London firm Judge Sykes Frixou.
According to LinkedIn, he has since worked at three other London firms.
In a statement of agreed facts and outcome approved by the SDT, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said Mr Green bought a property with a mortgage from Santander on the basis that he was the sole beneficial owner and would make all the mortgage payments.
In fact, his brother, James Alexander Green, was contributing to the purchase price, making the repayments and would live there. Between 2010 and 2015, James paid £50,000 into Paul’s bank account, who in turn made £47,500 in mortgage payments.
James’s money was obtained through crime – he was jailed for six years on five counts: the same two as his brother, as well as supplying cannabis, concealing criminal property (£341,547 in cash, silver ingot and watches) and possessing a class B drug with intent to supply on a particular day in 2019.
Sentencing them, His Honour Judge Henry rejected the submission that Paul had simply let James pay money into his account. While the mortgage fraud may have been a small part of the sentencing exercise, “it was a significant part in the scheme to get the laundering going”.
The judge said the jury had rejected his evidence that Paul did not know what was going on.
“Contrary to that view, in my judgment, you were hands on with what was going on. And you may have been acted [sic] misguidedly, I do not know, to help your brother but it is clearly [sic] that you did know very much more than you were prepared to admit.”
Mr Green did not seek to argue that he should not be struck off and the SDT agreed it was the appropriate sanction.
A statement released at the time of the convictions by Detective Constable David Thomas, of the South East Cyber Crime Unit, said the evidence showed at least £166,000 in criminal money had been used to fund the mortgage, which was paid off 10 years early.
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