A Vancouver-based tax and trust lawyer is facing allegations his actions helped facilitate securities fraud between 2014 and 2018.
On April 19, the Law Society of BC issued a citation to Nicholas Smith of Legacy Tax and Trust Lawyers alleging he used his firm’s trust accounts to receive up to C$2.8 million and US$4.4 million and disperse some of the funds when he “knew or ought to have known” that “one or more” of the three clients were being investigated for securities fraud in the United States and that one or more clients had been indicted for “alleged conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and/or securities fraud.”
Smith is also accused of not providing any substantial legal services with respect to flowing the money through his accounts. The society also alleges Smith did not make reasonable inquiries “prior to acting or continuing to act in the transactions in circumstances that were objectively suspicious.”
Reasonable inquiries omitted, according to the citation, include: the source of funds; purpose of the payments; and the reasons for the payments to go through the trust accounts.
A third allegation of professional misconduct is that between February 2015 and September 2015, Smith acted on behalf of his clients to have funds released by Heritage Bank in Switzerland and made misrepresentations.
The society told Smith he “acted in a manner that you knew or ought to have known was false, misleading, inaccurate, or lacked candour, and/or assisted in or encouraged dishonesty, crime, or fraud, contrary to” the code of conduct for B.C. lawyers.
Smith is being represented by Ken McEwan of McEwan Partners.
“Mr. Smith is a senior and respected member of the B.C. bar who has practiced in the complex areas of tax, trust, and estate law for 35 years. Mr. Smith intends to defend himself fully and truthfully against the allegations, and we are confident that the record will show he acted honestly and in good faith at all times. As the matter is before the Law Society Tribunal, we are unable to comment in more detail at this time,” McEwan told Glacier Media, which reached out to Smith for comment.
