Shocking article in the Sheffield Tribune. A solicitor, Andrew Milne, buying up freeholds of houses and then making (false) threats to the leaseholders to bully them into buying the freehold at a huge premium.
This goes way beyond a lawyer acting unethically. If Milne knows the statements he's making are false (and it seems likely he does) then it's fraud.
A civil court has already found Milne to be dishonest.
That should have immediately ended his career as a solicitor.
The public should be protected.
Three immediate steps:
1. the police should investigate Milne for fraud.
2. the Solicitors Regulation Authority should shut down his firm. They have more than enough to suspect dishonesty (one of the grounds in Part 1 Schedule 1 to the Solicitors Act 1974).
3. the SRA should impose immediate restrictions on Milne, suspending him from practising as a solicitor pending the outcome of an investigation.
Usual SRA procedures are - rightly - careful and slow. This is a case where protection of the public requires immediate action.
Mandelson's firm, General Counsel, covered-up Mandelson's relationship with Epstein.
Here's Global Counsel's CEO and co-founder, preparing to tell the press that Mandelson barely knew Jeffrey Epstein.
Who did he check that line with?
Jeffrey Epstein.
They're responding to this Telegraph story, the previous day, revealing that Epstein planned to meet a British Government Minister in New York on the weekend of 12/13 December 2009.
The Telegraph had picked up on a 2009 court application by Epstein to be released from house arrest so he could meet a senior British government figure in New York.
On 31 March 2010, Lord Mandelson's principal private secretary sent him a note of a meeting between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Larry Summers, US Treasury Secretary.
Lord Mandelson forwarded it to Jeffrey Epstein five minutes later.
This was a pretty detailed discussion. Epstein responded with suggestions as to how hedge funds should be taxed, and then detailed questions about the drafting of the new US rules ("may" vs "shall).
The next day, Lord Mandelson met Larry Summers himself.
Lord Mandelson's private secretary sent a note of the meeting to him at 1.22pm. Within two minutes, Lord Mandelson forwarded it to Jeffrey Epstein.
Who leaked this Number 10 discussion to Jeffrey Epstein? And are there consequences for the leaker?
It’s an internal discussion re. getting markets moving in the aftermath of the financial crisis. No doubt of great interest to Epstein and his financial market clients.
The name of the leaker is redacted. Could be any of Vadera, Pond, Heywood, Mandelson, or anyone they forwarded the email to.
I guess we'll never know the leaker's identity.
On a completely different subject, here's Peter Mandelson (a few months later) leaking an unrelated policy discussion to Jeffrey Epstein.
New Epstein emails show Peter Mandelson secretly advising JPMorgan’s CEO on how to fight Labour’s 2009 bankers’ bonus tax - even suggesting he “mildly threaten” the Chancellor.
Mandelson was Business Secretary at the time.
A year later, he was seeking work with JPM.
On 9 December 2009, Alistair Darling - then the Chancellor of the Exchequer - announced a one-off 50% tax on bankers’ bonuses.
On 15 December, Jeffrey Epstein asked Lord Mandelson if the tax could be amended so it applied only to cash bonuses (not the, much more valuable, non-cash elements such as share options).
Mandelson said that he was trying hard to amend the tax.