A Swiss lawyer has been banned from practising in England and Wales for his involvement in a so-called ‘pump and dump’ investment scheme.

Matthew Ledvina had pleaded guilty in 2019 to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud before a court in Massachusetts, USA. It was found he assisted his co-conspirators by creating nominee entities used to hold shares in a publicly traded company. These entities allowed the true owners of the shares to mask their identities and secretly sell large quantities of shares and artificially inflate the price.

Despite his guilty plea before the US court, Ledvina, who was admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2007, denied misconduct and the allegation of acting dishonestly.

He did not appear at his hearing before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal today. In his absence, the SRA submitted to the tribunal that Ledvina was ‘knowingly involved’ with the operation and aware that shares were being artificially inflated.

He had been sentenced to 30 months’ probation and fined $50,000, and at the time had not sought to resile from the allegations he faced in the US. He now argued on paper that the SRA’s case was not in the public interest and that too much time had passed for the regulator to be justified in pursuing his case.

Michael Collis, representing the SRA, said accepting Ledvina’s argument would create an ‘invidious position of the respondent having been convicted and sentenced before the criminal courts of the US on a factual basis and then being dealt with in this tribunal on a different basis’.

After less than 30 minutes’ deliberation, the tribunal found all allegations proved against Ledvina, including that of dishonesty. He was struck off and ordered to pay £3,675 in costs. A full judgment will be published in around seven weeks.

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