Man (67) defrauded about 1,200 people while posing as barrister
A JUDGE has issued a bench warrant after a man who defrauded about 1,200 people while posing as a barrister and personal insolvency practitioner failed to turn up for his sentence, reports Jessica Magee and Isabel Hayes.
David Williams (67), with an address in Lacken, Blessington, Co Wicklow, pleaded guilty to multiple sample counts of deception on dates between January 2019 and June 2020.
He also admitted to charges of providing legal services while an unqualified person and acting as a personal insolvency practitioner while an unauthorised person during the same period.
In a separate matter, Williams pleaded guilty to defrauding a Galway woman in her 80s by dishonestly inducing her to buy a mini-digger for over €7,000.
Williams was due to be sentenced on Friday, but he failed to show up and medical letters were handed in to the court instead by his defence counsel, Pieter Le Vert BL.
His sentence was also adjourned last November for medical reasons and he has previously failed to attend court.
Judge Orla Crowe said she did not believe the documentation provided to the court warranted adjourning the matter.
She acceded to a prosecution request for a bench warrant to be issued for Williams’ arrest.
William’s former partner, Crystal Talia (46), of the same address, was in court on Friday to be sentenced for her role in the offence.
She previously pleaded guilty to impeding an investigation by allowing Williams to use her bank accounts on dates between September 2018 and May 2020.
The court heard that the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau investigated a firm called THL Legal, which offered a range of legal services including advice about work permits, leave-to-remain applications and family reunifications.
Most of the people seeking advice were not of Irish origin and had paid sums averaging €1,500 to the company, the court heard.
THL had Facebook and Twitter accounts and a website advertising themselves as “a dynamic firm of experienced lawyers,” although the company was never a solicitors’ firm and was not registered with the Law Society, the court heard.
The court heard Williams is not and never was a practicing barrister, nor was he ever on the Roll of Practising Barristers.
THL’s offices in Greenogue Business Park, Westmanstown, Rathcoole, Co Dublin were raided by gardaí who seized a large number of files, including a client list with 1,200 names on it.
Williams then set up another legal firm called Moore, Barrington and Walters (MBW) which operated from November 2019 to May 2020, until its offices were also raided by gardaí.
Williams was arrested in May 2020, but in June of that year, counsel said he was “toting himself out” as a personal insolvency practitioner in a third business called Global Business Recovery, or GBR.
The court heard that Talia and Williams were in a relationship and living together in Kildare with a number of children at the time of the offences.
They met when she was working as a carer for his elderly aunt.
Talia opened a bank account used for trading as THL and then MBW, into which unwitting victims transferred fees for what they believed would be legitimate legal services.
The court heard that as some of these clients realised that the relevant legal work they had requested was not being carried out, they began to report the firm to the gardaí or the Law Society.
When arrested, Talia said Williams had set up THL Legal and asked her to set up a bank account that he could use for the business, as he said he was going through marital difficulties in the UK.
She was not involved in the day-to day business of THL or Williams’ other firms and she has no previous convictions.
Handing down sentence on Friday, Judge Crowe noted Talia “trusted someone who did not deserve to be trusted”.
The judge noted Talia allowed two of her bank accounts to be used for Williams’ offending, including after the first account came under garda investigation.
She said Talia ought to have been “sufficiently concerned” by the search warrant on the first bank account so as to have known something was going on.
The judge took into account a number of mitigating factors, including Talia’s prior good character, her family situation and her good work record.
She handed down a 12 month sentence and suspended it entirely on a number of conditions.