John knight banned after forging documents and abusing client accounts in schemes

Tribunal finds John Knight guilty of dishonest document forgeries and client account abuse

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has struck off solicitor John Knight after uncovering a disturbing pattern of dishonesty, document forgery and abuse of client accounts linked to high-risk property investment schemes.

Knight, who had worked at Wosskow Brown Solicitors LLP before becoming a director at Wosskow Brown Legal Services Limited, was found to have repeatedly breached professional rules while handling millions of pounds of investor funds.

Between 2014 and 2015, Knight allowed the firm’s client account to be used as a banking facility for two investment projects. In the “BHSLL care home scheme”, investors were promised returns of up to 18% a year, yet the developer had no bank account. Instead, more than £1.7 million flowed through the firm’s client account, paying not just development expenses but also personal items such as a director’s loan and tax bills. The tribunal heard that this arrangement breached the Solicitors Accounts Rules and carried the clear hallmarks of a dubious investment scheme.

Knight admitted failing to assess risks properly and conceded he had allowed the firm’s client account to be misused. A second scheme, the “Company B project”, saw similar misuse of client accounts, with more than £230,000 routed through the firm instead of proper banking channels.

The tribunal’s most damning findings related to a series of false documents Knight created in 2016, just before an inspection by the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) forensic investigation team. These included fabricated memos and file notes, all backdated to 2014, designed to mislead regulators into believing the firm had properly reviewed concerns raised at the time.

In 2017, Knight doubled down on the deception. In a formal response to the SRA, he knowingly relied on the same fabricated documents, presenting them as genuine evidence. The tribunal found this conduct to be dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people.

Further misconduct came to light when the tribunal examined Knight’s handling of legal charges for corporate clients. On at least three occasions between 2015 and 2017, he or his staff altered dates on mortgage deeds and Companies House forms to create the illusion that charges had been registered on time. By falsifying documents, Knight engineered fresh 21-day windows for registration that had already expired. The tribunal again found his actions to be deliberate, dishonest and calculated.

The panel stressed that Knight’s behaviour struck at the heart of the profession’s integrity. Although his misuse of accounts had not directly caused investors financial loss, the dishonest manipulation of records and attempts to mislead regulators were judged to be of the highest seriousness.

In mitigation, the tribunal considered evidence of personal difficulties and health problems during the period, but ruled that these did not excuse calculated dishonesty. It concluded there were no exceptional circumstances that could justify leniency.

As a result, John Knight was struck off the Roll of Solicitors and ordered to pay £19,662 in costs.

Two colleagues also faced sanctions. The Second Respondent, who supervised Knight and held compliance officer roles, was fined £25,000, barred indefinitely from acting as a COLP or COFA, and ordered to pay more than £39,000 in costs. The Third Respondent, a senior solicitor with a previous disciplinary history, was fined £35,000, prohibited indefinitely from handling client money, and also ordered to pay costs on a joint and several basis.

The tribunal said Knight’s misconduct represented a “series of deliberate acts of dishonesty” that inflicted “serious damage on the reputation of the profession”. His removal from the Roll, it added, was the only sanction capable of maintaining public trust in solicitors.