Jail for man who posed as a barrister to defraud clients


Ogilvy: convicted on six counts

A man who posed as a barrister to con his victims out of thousands of pounds has been jailed for two years.

Leonard Ogilvy, 51, of south London was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of three counts of wilfully pretending to be a barrister and three counts of fraud by false representation.

He was also found not guilty of two further counts – one of pretending to be a barrister and one of fraud by false representation.

Three victims lost a total of £21,000 when they paid Ogilvy fees for legal advice, believing he was a barrister. Two of the victims had sought legal advice on employment law while the third victim needed help with a divorce settlement.

In each case, the victims met Ogilvy and paid him an initial consultation fee between £120 and £150, with Ogilvy then demanding further fees for his work. Ogilvy received £19,500 from one victim alone. The offences were committed between 2010 and 2015.

One of the victims contacted the Bar Council and the Law Society when she became suspicious about Ogilvy’s legitimacy and was advised that Ogilvy was not registered. When she raised the matter with Ogilvy, he tried to persuade her he was registered but ‘not practicing’.

Detective Constable Gavin Popplewell, of the Metropolitan Police’s complex fraud team, said: “Ogilvy is a serial conman who posed convincingly as a barrister, persuading vulnerable individuals in their hour of need to part with often large sums of cash for legal advice he did not, nor was qualified to provide.

“If other people believe they have also fallen victim to him, I would urge them to contact police via Action Fraud.”




Leave a Comment

By clicking Submit you consent to Legal Futures storing your personal data and confirm you have read our Privacy Policy and section 5 of our Terms & Conditions which deals with user-generated content. All comments will be moderated before posting.

Required fields are marked *
Email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Blog


Credit hire: The truth behind the headlines

Recent headlines about how the credit hire industry works speak volumes about how little is truly understood about this important element of the post-vehicle collision landscape.


Choosing a reporting accountant

It would be beneficial for numerous reasons if the SRA considered providing certain reporting accountants with an accreditation or quality mark.


Jeff Zindani

Blinded by the light: Can law firms survive the PE gold rush?

In a legal market where tradition collides with transformation, law firms of every size and stripe are being approached almost daily by private equity houses.


Loading animation
loading