9 Jun 2017

9 June 2017

Unregistered barristers and brothers Benjamin and Isaac Marrache were ordered to be disbarred from the Bar of England and Wales at two separate independent disciplinary tribunal hearings yesterday, following charges brought by the Bar Standards Board.

The decision of both tribunals comes after the two brothers were convicted in July 2014 in the Supreme Court of Gibraltar of conspiring with others to defraud clients of Marrache & Co, a company which provided services to corporate and private clients in Gibraltar. The period of the criminal activity was between 1 July 2004 and 9 February 2010.

Benjamin Marrache was sentenced to a prison term of 11 years in total and is currently in prison.

Isaac Marrache was sentenced to a prison term of 7 years and was paroled in December 2016, having served a third of his sentence.

BSB Director of Professional Conduct Sara Jagger said: "Convictions for conspiring to defraud users of legal services are entirely incompatible with membership of the Bar. These were serious criminal offences committed during the course of their professional practice which involved defrauding clients over a very long period of time. These offences attracted lengthy prison sentences. The tribunals' decisions to disbar reflect the need to ensure that the public is protected."

The Gibraltar Bar Council has been notified about yesterday's decision.

ENDS

Notes to editors

About Benjamin John Marrache

Mr Marrache was called to the Bar by Inner Temple in November 1988. He has never held a practising certificate in England and Wales.

About Isaac Samuel Marrache

Mr Marrache was called to the Bar by Inner Temple in July 1982. He became unregistered in October 2011, but held a practising certificate in England and Wales over two periods between 1988 to 1998 and 2001 to 2010.

About the Bar Standards Board

Our mission is to regulate barristers and specialised legal services businesses in England and Wales in the public interest. For more information about what we do visit: http://bit.ly/1gwui8t

About disciplinary tribunals

The appointment, operation, and decisions (including sentencing) of disciplinary tribunal panels are performed by the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service (BTAS). BTAS is run independently of the Bar Standards Board, the barristers' regulator, which is responsible for bringing charges of professional misconduct against barristers. These charges are then adjudicated on by BTAS' tribunal panels.

Contact: For all media enquiries call: 0207 611 1452 or email[email protected].

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