December 11th, 2015 -- A Trinidad Attorney, Geoffrey Romany, was on Thursday, December 10, 2015 jailed by Nevis Resident Judge Her Ladyship Lorraine Williams, for fraudulent conversion.
Her Ladyship presided over Romany’s trial during the November/December,2015 Criminal Assizes in the East Caribbean Supreme Court, Nevis High Court.
Romany who owned a law firm in Nevis was arrested in April 2012 and charged with fraudulent conversion. He pleaded guilty to the charge. He was also charged with money laundering but this offence was dropped due to lack of evidence.
Justice Williams said Romany’s sentence will be reduced to a lesser term as the years he has been in custody will be put into consideration. Also put into consideration are the pending charges against Romany.
Romany was represented by Dr. Henry Browne assisted by John Kato while the Prosecution was led by Giovanni James assisted by Teshaun Vasquez and Greatess Gordon. Asked for a comment on the sentence, Dr Henry Browne(Q.C) described it as “fair”.
Giovanni told the court that there were other offences that Romany has been charged with which are yet to be brought to court. The Crown Counsel said although the Social Inquiry had indicated that Romany was remorseful and had no previous convictions there were aggravating factors that could not be ignored.
The counsel said the amount in question was a very large sum of money, over EC 2 million. He said Romany had breached his position of trust between a client and attorney. He also said the complainant was retired. Giovanni also stated that the offence was committed between 2007.
Dr Browne told the court that Romany had saved the court’s time by pleading guilty. He further defended his client and said Romany had displayed an element of being truthful by accepting his wrong doing. “He was a professional man with unblemished criminal record,” he said Browne also said that the social inquiry had depicted Romany as an attorney who loved to serve the community. He called for leniency as his client had remained in custody under “harsh conditions” during the time he spent in remand.
Prior to sentencing Romany, Her Ladyship said Romany had bleached the trust bestowed on him by his clients. She said the money he embezzled was his client’s retirement funds and client’s savings meant to purchase a house. She also said that the period the fraud was carried out was for over two years. Romany,
Her Ladyship said the money misappropriated was over two million Eastern Caribbean dollars.
She further said that as yet there was no restitution made to complainants. Her Ladyship said Romany’s conduct had disgraced and eroded public fraternity in the legal legal fraternity. “Justice must be done,” she said. She Added that Romany had breached the constitutional rights of the clients.
“This cannot be tolerated,” she said. “I hope when you leave prison you will become productive,” she told Romany.
Her Ladyship told members of the legal fraternity to protect the confidence clients bestow on them.
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