Lawyer who missed money laundering 'red flags' suspended by B.C. law society

A former Vancouver lawyer who failed to recognize "red flags" that should have made him ask more questions about the money he was handling for a client has been fined and suspended for four months.

Samuel Kwadwo Ansong Osei admitted to misconduct in a joint submission on discipline put forward with the Law Society of B.C. and accepted by the society's hearing panel.

The panel accepted the discipline submission on Nov. 9, and its reasons for its decision were published on the law society website on Nov. 25. 

The decision lays out a variety of transactions Osei made between May 2016 and December 2017 for a client identified in the document only as "MP."

The law society's citation against him alleged that Osei had failed to provide MP with "substantial or any legal services" and failed to "make reasonable inquiries" about the scope of a $5,000-per-month retainer MP paid him.

He also failed to make – or document, if he did make them – such inquiries about "the source of the funds" provided by MP, "the purpose of the transactions, or the reason for the use of his trust account."

The initial citation also levelled money laundering allegations against Osei, but those allegations were withdrawn before a hearing on the case began.

"The respondent effectively allowed MP to use the respondent’s trust account as a bank account," the hearing panel's decision reads.

"The respondent received and disbursed $2,147,311.92 in funds under circumstances where little or no legal work was performed on the transactions and where the respondent had little to no knowledge of the corporate identities involved, or even had identification from MP. This conduct is a marked departure from that conduct the law society expects of lawyers."

Though the money laundering allegations were dropped, the panel still considered the opaque nature of the transactions Osei facilitated when weighing whether to accept the discipline he and the law society proposed.

"A sanction in a matter such as this must ensure that the public has confidence in the legal profession’s ability to regulate lawyers’ use of their trust accounts and prevent illegitimate transactions that may be or lead to money laundering," the panel wrote, noting that Osei failed to notice several "red flags" that should have prompted him to ask questions of MP.

The panel ultimately accepted the joint submission on discipline, noting that Osei has resided in Ontario since 2020 and been unable to practice law there because of the ongoing discipline proceeding against him in B.C.

"Here, a four-month suspension will have a meaningful impact on the respondent and his practice," the panel wrote.

In addition to the suspension, Osei was ordered to pay $3,500 in costs to the law society.