B.C. lawyer banned for 12 years for misusing $450K in client funds

A prominent former lawyer in Surrey, B.C., has been banned from practising law for more than a decade after misusing$450,000 in funding sent for his client, who was then trying to immigrate to the province.

Mohammud MassoodJoomratty has agreed not to practise law in the province for 12 years as of July 29.

In announcing his suspension Thursday, the Law Society of B.C. which oversees the profession saidJoomrattyhad violated professional boundaries while handling his client's immigration application.

The client hired Joomratty to apply for a visitor visa in 2017 and later a work visa in 2019.

Joomrattynever confirmed whether his client was actually living in B.C. when filing paperwork with the federal government, according to the society.

"[Joomratty]provided information to Service Canada that the client had rented a place in British Columbia, had established himself in British Columbia, and had moved to British Columbia, when he had not exercised due diligence and did not have confirmation that these representations were true," the consent agreement read.

The society also found Joomratty misledan unnamed foreign bank into transferring$450,000 into his own trust accountfor the purported purchase of a condo for the client, when there "was no actual condominium purchase planned."

After the money arrived, Joomratty transferred$370,000to his company. He thenpassed the money on toanother client, the agreement said, though he did eventually pay it back.

The original client got a new lawyer in March 2020, who complained to the society.

The law society found Joomrattyacted improperly without his client's consent, violated conflict of interest requirements and didn't independently confirm key information about his client before filing paperwork with Service Canada.

It also found Joomrattymade statements to a client that he "knew or ought to have known were false and misleading."

Joomrattypaid back the money he misappropriated and didn't have a prior discipline record in his 24-year career. He shut downhis firm earlier this month.