Associate of the family of mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell, disgraced “reckless” ex-solicitor Malcolm Grumbridge, is exposed as “mysterious figure” behind a network of shell companies
According to The Law Society Gazette, Malcolm Grumbridge was “found guilty of a string of rule breaches” in December 2020. According to James Hurley in The Times this week, Grumbridge “has been a mysterious figure during his more than four-decade legal and business career… [who has been] at the heart of the Maxwells’ opaque finances, setting up and owning companies on behalf of the brothers Kevin and Ian Maxwell.”
A solicitor since 1978 but now removed from the roll, former sole practitioner Grumbridge – whom established around 150 companies in total – transferred a cash gift from a client to his personal account, “without the client being advised to take any independent legal advice.” He also was slammed for not accurately maintaining books, making inter-client loans without proper written authority and took cash withdrawals from client bank accounts in favour of himself.
Though the Solicitors Regulation Authority deemed Grumbridge’s conduct “serious enough to merit a fine of between £25,000 and £50,000,” this was “reduced to £2,000 [plus £1,350 in costs) on the basis of the admissions made at an early stage, Grumbridge’s ill health and his co-operation with the investigation.”
Summing up, “the SRA found [the solicitor] had ‘failed to behave in a way that maintains the trust the public places in him,’ which they described as ‘reckless,’” The Chiswick Calendar this week remarked.
Listed on the same page as a number for Scotland Yard in the infamous Ghislaine Maxwell – Jeffrey Epstein ‘little black book’ with a total of seven phone numbers – indicating his clear importance to the pugnacious pair – London, W4 based Grumbridge also “acted as a custodian of the house where Prince Andrew allegedly had sex with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims” and “set up multiple companies for the Maxwell family,” The Times also reported.
