Ristevski lawyer George James Bouhalis jailed for ripping off clients
The Ristevski family lawyer who claimed to have intimate knowledge of when part of a $360,000 inheritance was paid to the slain mother prior to her death has landed himself in hot water thanks to his own money woes.
North West
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The family lawyer of slain mother Karen Ristevski has been jailed after he embezzled more than a million dollars from his clients.
George James Bouhalis was sentenced in the Victorian Supreme Court on October 14 to a minimum two years and nine months in prison after pleading guilty to several counts of theft and false accounting.
He has been struck off the legal roll and will no longer be able to practise.
Bouhalis’s offending occurred between 2013 and 2017 while he practised under the name George James Lawyers.
Among his clients during this period was Ms Ristevski and her husband Borce.
According to a previous report, Bouhalis had inside knowledge of when the portion of a $360,000 inheritance left by Mrs Ristveski’s father was paid prior to her death.
None of Bouhalis’s offending relates to his dealings with the Ristveski family.
The dodgy lawyer siphoned $1.47 million from client’s funds in the firm’s trust account.
The court heard Bouhalis had struggled financially since 2001 after a former legal partnership was dissolved.
His money woes were exacerbated in 2007 when he paid out a $150,000 personal liability bill after a client went bankrupt.
The mounting financial strain caused Bouhalis to embezzle to pay personal debts.
His modus operandi was to take funds from one client, use the funds from another client to repay the first client and so on.
Bouhalis believed he could pay back the money in the short-term but he was unable so his “rob Peter to pay Paul” scheme spiralled out of control.
Bouhalis covered up the unauthorised withdrawals with false or incomplete entries in trust account records, cheque stubs and other records.
The main victims of Bouhalis’s multimillion-dollar fraud were trust funds belonging to the Calhand Pty Ltd and Dabrant Pty Ltd, vendors of a housing development called “The Pasco”, and estate funds belonging to the Haralampou family.
Both victims had their money repaid through the Fidelity Fund.
Bouhalis’s deceit began to unravel after Calhand Pty Ltd and Dabrant Pty Ltd made a complaint to the Legal Services Board.
Justice Cameron Macaulay said Bouhalis committed a serious breach of trust.
“(Your offences) seem to have been committed in a desperate attempt to save yourself, and probably your family, from financial ruin and embarrassment,” Justice Macaulay said.
“In a way, the astounding brazenness of your offending corroborates your level of desperation.”
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Bouhalis, who committed the bulk of his offending while he was suspended for professional misconduct for other matters, was sentenced to a maximum five years and five months in prison.
Mrs Ristevski disappeared from the family’s Avondale Heights home on June 29, 2016.
Her husband pleaded guilty to her manslaughter in the Supreme Court earlier this year and was sentenced to a maximum nine years’ prison.