Lawyer jailed for scamming investors including Joe Camilleri in Ponzi scheme
A DODGY lawyer was jailed today for running a decade-long scam that stole millions from his family, friends and others including singer Joe Camilleri.
Law & Order
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A DODGY lawyer who scammed more than $12 million from his clients – including his family, friends and singer Joe Camilleri – and left them in financial ruins has been jailed for 12 years.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Marilyn Warren said Philip David Linacre, 62, brought shame upon the entire legal profession by breaching the trust of his clients and setting a new record for the largest amount ever embezzled by a Victorian lawyer.
“You betrayed that trust and disgraced the legal profession and yourself,” the Chief Justice said.
“You have brought the whole profession into disrepute.”
For more than a decade, the cash-strapped Linacre operated a Ponzi scheme, taking millions from clients who came to him for investment advice, often in their time of need, and repaying others small amounts as fake interest.
Chief Justice Warren said Linacre promised lucrative returns to his clients – who included an elderly widow, a barrister friend and a barristers’ clerk – and showed them forged property documents to assure them their investment was secured by a mortgage.
She said during the “despicable charade” Linacre misappropriated more than $12.1 million, repaid approximately $1.8 million of interest and had not paid restitution to his victims, whose life savings, superannuation and inheritances he had lost.
“They placed complete trust in you,” Chief Justice Warren said.
“You did not only steal money from your victims, you robbed them of their future.”
ARIA Hall of Famer Joe Camilleri handed over $200,000 to Linacre in 2010 and 2011 and received only $54,000 in interest payments.
Camilleri’s former wife, Michelle, invested $500,000 with her long-term friend and remains more than $350,000 out of pocket.
In July 2012, the former franchise law expert admitted to the Legal Services Board he had misappropriated clients’ funds and handed in his practising certificate, saying he "couldn't do it any more".
The bankrupt father of two wanted police to lay charges immediately so he could start his term of imprisonment, a position Chief Justice Warren said was “commendable”.
Linacre pleaded guilty to 21 deception charges and five counts relating to trust fund deficiencies.
Chief Justice Warren said Linacre’s sentence needed to send a message to other lawyers, who were “entrusted by the community to act with integrity”.
“Lawyers must comprehend that the courts uphold the highest standards for lawyers in this State,” she said.
“Lawyers are not above the law.”
Chief Justice Warren considered a number of factors, including Linacre’s age, remorse loss of career, cooperation with authorities and placement in protective custody, and imposed a lower than normal non-parole period of eight years.