Lawyer who made £1m fortune from money laundering scam to repay £1

A lawyer serving time for financial crime has nothing left of the £1m fortune he acquired through breaking the law, a court has heard.

Alistair Blackwood, 70, made a total of £1,086,581 from his life of crime whilst working as a solicitor for a Paisley law firm.

At a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh, prosecutors and defence lawyers agreed that Blackwood has nothing of that amount which can be recovered.

The news emerged during a hearing into a proceeds of crime action brought against Blackwood and his accomplices – solicitors Iain Robertson, 72, and David Lyons, 74.

The three lawyers acted alongside Mohammed Aziz, 63, and Robert Ferguson, 69, in a £1.5m money laundering scam which operated from the Robertson & Ross firm in Paisley.

On Monday, prosecutor Bryan Heaney said during a hearing that Blackwood’s personal benefit from the crime was £1,086,581 – but there was nothing of that available to be seized.

He asked judge John Morris KC to pass an order against Blackwood which forces him to hand over just £1 – the order also states that Blackwood has three months to make the payment to the sheriff clerk’s office at Perth.

Blackwood and his four accomplices were sentenced following a nine-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow before Judge Lord Richardson.

The trial was the culmination of a process which had been triggered by a Law Society probe into activities at the firm.

They were convicted of fraud and multiple charges under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Robertson, Lyons and Aziz were also convicted on charges of being involved in serious organised crime. All were sent to prison.

Prosecutors told jurors the case centred on four transactions carried out between May 2015 and July 2016.

The first transaction involved a £79,340 stolen cheque due to be paid to a law firm in Jersey.

The next centred on £240,000 from a fraudulent house sale in London.

The third transaction saw £985,000 stolen from the hacked bank account of a football club owner.

The final illegal activity was uncovered after Robertson claimed to be acting for a man who wanted to sell his home in Essex.

The court heard that the “seller” was said to be staying at a flat that turned out to be Ferguson’s address.

A total of £181,786 was made from the fraudulent sale.

In each transaction, the proceeds were funnelled through the client bank account held by Robertson’s firm in Paisley, Robertson & Ross Limited, and false records were created to make them appear legitimate.

Fake papers and fake IDs – including a passport and driver’s licence – were collated in a bid to cover up the crimes.

The Law Society raised concerns about several of these transactions before alerting police to the potential illegal activity.

The trial heard that lawyer Robertson, who has been suspended by the Law Society along with Blackwood, was at the heart of the money-laundering scheme since he had access to his firm’s client account.

At a hearing earlier this year, Robertson told Judge Olga Pasportnikov that he couldn’t attend a court date in the action because he was attending a wedding on the same day.

Robertson, who represented himself in a bid by the Crown to recover money he made from a £1.5m laundering racket, told judge Pasportnikov: “I’m on home leave for a wedding that day. I have a week of home leave every month.”

Mr Heaney told the court that the Crown could still return to court if investigators discovered that Blackwood had assets.

He added: “The Crown can take Mr Blackwood back to court if he comes into property.”

Judge Morris authorised the £1 payment to be made within three months.

The actions against Blackwood’s co-accuseds continues and is expected to call sometime in the near future.