Top divorce lawyer ducks jail over tax fraud scam that saw her pocket £38,000
Dianna Gerald's law firm, which had offices in Cheltenham, Gloucester and Worcester, has been closed by regulators
A TOP divorce lawyer’s career lies in ruins after a judge branded her tax fraud scam "shameful, disrespectful, disgraceful and distasteful."
Dianna Gerald, 49, swindled over £38,000 from the Inland Revenue after exaggerating wages to a former client whom she took on as an employee.
HMRC investigators uncovered the scam after discovering her business records didn’t match self-assessment tax forms.
Gerald - who claimed she has been battling depression for 20 years - was also found to have fabricated invoices to support her false claims.
She filled in forms claiming to pay her admin assistant up to £2,000 a month when in fact she was paying her just £450.
Gerald was convicted of four counts of fraud at Manchester Crown Court - and the Solicitors Regulatory Authority have shut down her family law firm Simply Solicitors which had offices in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and Worcester.
Suspending a 21 month jail term Judge Martin Steiger QC told her: ‘’The fact is, you swindled the Revenue out of around £38,000 through your work as a solicitor.
“You went to great lengths to create bogus documents and your conduct was completely disgraceful. You are unsuitable to be a solicitor in sole practice or in a company.
‘’Your behaviour was shameful, disrespectful, disgraceful and distasteful. This was a grave pattern of offending. In my view you are wholly unsuitable to ever be a solicitor ever again.’’
Earlier the court heard Gerald - who qualified as a lawyer after attending night school -had falsely claimed she had clocked up £116,400 worth of expenses including staff costs and also refunds relating to clients’ divorce fees.
The scam began when Gerald acted for Nicola Carter as she went through a bitter split with her husband Alan.
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During tense negotiations Mr Carter branded Gerald a “bent lawyer and fraudster” and was eventually jailed in 2009 for five months for harassment.
He spent 15 months trying to smear Gerald’s name putting posters up around Gloucester with his allegations.
Following the case Gerald, of Worcester hired Nicola as an admin assistant to help her pay off her legal fees, the court heard.
Prosecuting Cameron Brown said the total loss to the Inland Revenue was £37,706 and added: ‘’This took sophisticated planning. There was a false employment contract, and two years worth of false invoices.’’
Defence lawyer Paul Williams said the fraud was “out of character” and she had paid the money back to the HMRC.
He said: “She bitterly regrets the catastrophic decisions that she made in this case - although she does accept full responsibility for putting herself in this position.
‘’She loved her job. Family law was her passion. She was successful in it. She worked really really hard at it. That has gone now.’’
Gerald was sentenced to 21 months in prison, suspended for 18 months and ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work. She was also given an 18 month supervision order and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.
The SRA also placed various conditions on her practising certificate and took possession of all money held by the firm.
Stuart Taylor, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Dianna Gerald abused her position of trust as a solicitor to defraud the taxpaying public. Tax fraud is not tolerated by HMRC, and we will take action regardless of the resources of those committing the fraud, to ensure that no one is beyond our reach. ‘’