City law firm fined £25k for blocking football club transfers
City law firm Mishcon de Reya has been fined £25,000 for allowing multi-million-pound payments to be made through its client account to agents involved in football transfers.
The payments were made to so-called ‘deal wreckers’ who could prevent a transfer of a football player going ahead.
The law firm was seen as a reliable go-between for both the agents and the football club involved to enable these payments.
SDT rules state that any money flowing through a law firm’s account must relate to legal services, and this was in clear violation of that rule.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal’s (SDT) sanction came after the firm admitted four breaches of account rules relating to transactions between 2011 and 2015. The firm had denied a fifth breach, but this was found proven by the tribunal this morning.
Morning Wire have contacted Mishcon de Reya for comment.