A Belfast solicitor has been given a four year suspended sentence after stealing almost half a million pounds through a mortgage scam.
Already dubbed the ‘Krown affair’, Philip Krown, formerly known as William Phillip Crossey, blew £445,000 on a ‘hedonistic adventure’ that involved jet setting across Europe and South America, renting a prime London property, opening Swiss bank accounts and booking deluxe hotel suites. He also spent thousands on expensive jewellery for his wife.
Mr Krown was arrested at Gatwick airport in March 2008 whilst trying to board a flight to Barcelona but wasn’t sentenced until Monday where he pleaded guilty to one count of theft – stealing credit from Philip Crossey Solicitors Client's account in the sum of £445,520 – and also to removing £390,498.52 of criminal property from Northern Ireland.
In another court hearing it was discovered that the unscrupulous solicitor had set up his scam by applying to Future Mortgages for a £445,000 mortgage on his home, when the property was still subject to a £395,000 mortgage from HSBC.
David McAughey, prosecuting, explained how Mr Krown used his client account of Philip Crossey Solicitor to act as a safeguard to pay off the debt. However, in January 2006 he took a cheque of £390,000, supposedly to return payment on the loan, but the cheque was never cashed.
Instead he sold his firm of solicitors to a new name, Keown Crossey Solicitors, and a portfolio of properties to the estate agent firm, A S Ireland.
As the solicitor continued to swindle thousands through this continuous fraudulent practice, in a bizarre twist of fate, his health started to severely deteriorate.
Mr Krown had had his left leg amputated in June 2005, and suffered from diabetes. However, his decadent lifestyle seemed to provoke his poor health further, leading to mitigating circumstances when being tried.
Commenting on the case, Judge Geoffrey Miller QC said that the solicitor’s “descent into the mire of his present circumstances has something of the Greek Tragedy about it”.
Many of those involved in the case have expressed outrage that the mitigating circumstances allowed, what they see, as a too lenient sentence.
However, in defence of his judgment, Judge Miller explained how Mr Krown’s mental and physical deterioration had to be taken into account alongside his offences, as his amputation had led to severe depression, paranoia and a personality change.
Since the revelation of the fraud the authorities have only been able to recover $50,000, which was left in the Swiss bank account.
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