A veteran B.C. securities lawyer has agreed to a three-month suspension after admitting to professional misconduct for improperly moving hundreds of thousands of dollars through his trust accounts, which had raised money laundering concerns from police.
In a settlement agreement with the Law Society of B.C., Gregory Dureault conceded he didn’t check the source of funds when he permitted the use of his firm’s trust accounts to receive and disburse those funds through offshore accounts in international tax havens and in connection to a U.S. public company.
Nor did Dureault provide legal services for the funds, according to the agreement, which describes numerous problematic transactions across several companies.
From April 2016 to March 2017, Dureault acted as a director and shareholder of a company that was the major shareholder of a public company, but he failed to make “reasonable or any inquiries” into the disclosure and conduct of three entities and four individuals of the public company, in the face of what the agreement describes only as “suspicious circumstances.”
In January 2019, the RCMP advised Dureault of its joint investigation into the company with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, and possible money laundering through his firm’s trust account.
Dureault “cooperated appropriately with RCMP in their investigation, consistent with his professional obligations to his clients,” according to the agreement that describes Dureault as “remorseful” and understanding of his mistakes.
The society then investigated Dureault after a referral from the RCMP in February 2020.
The agreement with the law society stated that in one set of circumstances, after opening a U.S. client trust ledger for a Nevada company – of which he was one of five directors – Dureault received US$50,000 by wire transfer from a Polish company’s account in Saint Lucia that was specified to be for “legal services,” despite that not being the case.
Dureault received a further US$50,000 in March 2017 from a company domiciled in the Marshall Islands. The funds came from a bank in Switzerland. As well, the transfer was directed by someone who was not Dureault’s client.
Dureault was called to the bar in 1985, but by 2008 he largely ceased his private practice to provide legal services for businesses, including public companies.
In addition to the suspension, Dureault has since ceased operating a trust account and has undertaken not to operate a trust account in the future.
