Former Illawarra lawyer Nigel Duncan jailed over multi-million fraud scheme
A former Illawarra lawyer has been sent to jail, after admitting to defrauding the estates of his dead clients through a ‘sophisticated’ scheme.
Illawarra Star
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Disgraced Illawarra lawyer Nigel Duncan will spend at least two years behind bars, after admitting to orchestrating a “sophisticated” multi-million dollar scheme that defrauded the estates of his dead clients.
The former Maguire and McInerney employee was sentenced to three years nine months jail with a non-parole period of two years by Judge Andrew Haesler on Friday, after he carried out a $2.1 million fraud scam over a six-year period from 2011 to 2017, which saw him misappropriate more than $750,000 from deceased estates.
Court documents revealed Duncan used the funds to pay for his mortgage, car leases and an ATO tax debt, then “robbed Peter to pay Paul” to avoid detection, making more than $1.3 million worth of fraudulent financial transactions to cover his tracks.
The 65-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception in June, before facing court Wollongong District Court for sentencing on Friday.
In taking the witness stand, Duncan admitted to trying to cover his tracks on several occasions, by taking files of his client’s home, and lying to investigators about anomalies.
Duncan, who fought back tears while giving evidence, told the court his actions had cost him everything of importance, revealing his wife had divorced him and his children no longer speak to him.
“I’m shattered. My life is nothing,” he said.
“I can’t describe how low I feel. I’ve virtually got nothing. I’m just existing.”
The 65-year-old also told the court his crimes had pushed him to try and take his own life by running his car off the road one night in August.
“I was coming home late at night and I thought ‘is it all worth it’,” he said.
“I thought it would be easier on a lot of people. So I left the road … I did more damage to the car than anything else.”
Duncan’s fraud scheme began to unravel in September 2017, following a complaint from a client at Maguire and McInerney Lawyers regarding a $7000 transaction.
The law firm reimbursed the sum to the correct estate before reprimanding Duncan, ordering him to attend ethics classes and alerting the Law Society of NSW Professional Standards Department.
Following this, several audits were conducted, which uncovered the true extent of Duncan’s alleged fraudulent activity.
The 65-year-old was subsequently fired from Maguire and McInerney Lawyers, and relinquished his practising certificate a couple of days later.
According to court documents, Duncan misappropriated more than $2.148 million from trust money held by the law firm for deceased estates on more than 100 occasions over the six year period.
In November 2017, the NSW Supreme Court ordered Duncan to sell the home he owned with his wife to repay Maguire and McInerney Lawyers. The following month the property was settled and Duncan used his half of the money, $437,000, to repay the firm, while his family also contributed to make up the difference.
Following the scandal, Duncan moved to the country town of Dubbo where he began employment as a truck driver, working long hours to make ends meet.
On Friday, the court heard Duncan did little more with his life than work in recent months, and that he had no assets or money in the bank.
In handing down his sentence, Judge Haesler noted Duncan had not only lost his liberty, but both his professional and personal reputation.
“He returned his practising certificate after it was discovered he had been systematically defrauding clients of the firm who employed him,” he said.
“He will lose not just his liberty but his reputation, and as before me, most of the things he valued in his life.”
Judge Haesler labelled Duncan’s conduct as “deceitful”, “unacceptable” and “calculated” during the judgement, but noted he had expressed sincere remorse and made reparations to the firm.
While sentenced to a total jail term of three years and nine months, he will be eligible for consideration to parole on October 31, 2021.
Outside court, Maguire and McInerney partner Mark McDonald said he was “delighted” to have the case behind him, but was devastated that Duncan, a good friend and employee could act in such a way.
“This is a guy who we took in, we gave him a home, he was deceitful, he stole from deceased estates, he treated us appallingly badly,” Mr McDonald said.
“He started law a few years after me, but we started playing football for the same team, I have known him for an awful long time he would walk around our office hail fellow well met, like we were all friends, we gave him a home.
“We were shattered that he would conduct himself like this.”