Mishcon de Reya fined over poor property due diligence

Mishcon de Reya has been fined £232,500 over anti-money-laundering failures involving property deals. The penalty, handed out by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, included fines for failing to conduct due diligence on three property transactions between September 2017 and October 2018. There were also concerns over due diligence and levels of training in cases between 2015 and 2017. Mishcon admitted to breaches that included failing to carry out adequate due diligence in four separate matters, misplacing a record of diligence it did carry out, and failing to train a partner in anti-money-laundering rules. In October, Mishcon, which is looking to list in the London Stock Market later this year, was fined for allowing payments to agents involved in football transfer deals to be routed through its client bank account, following a case in front of the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal. The FT (£)