Top Lawyer Jailed For £1.2M Travel Expenses Scam

A top City lawyer, who masterminded a £1.2m travel expenses scam after spending a fortune on his Lebanese lover, has been jailed for three years.

Christopher Grierson, 60, (pictured) of Rodean Crescent, Putney pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to a £1,274,414 travel expenses fraud in relation to 57 bogus claims for international travel.

He admitted furnishing false information to Hogan Lovells Solicitors of 50 Holborn Viaduct between January 1 and December 31, 2008 in relation to 11 travel claims totalling £167,211.

He pleaded guilty to three similar counts regarding 25 claims relating to £526,887 between January 1 and December 31, 2009; 19 claims relating to £516,705 between January 1 and December 31, 2010 and 2 claims relating to £63,611 between January 1 and May 12, last year.

Grierson was litigation partner instructed in collapse of Bank of Credit and Commerce International and runner-up in 2010's Lawyer of the Year competition.

Also acted for Sultan of Brunei's brother and advised the Financial Services Authority on the administration of Lehman Brothers.

He was sacked from his £830,000 a year position in May, last year and reported to the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.

Grierson repaid the money to the firm before his arrest in June.

The father-of-four gave his lover £280,000 cash and paid her rent at a New York apartment for eighteen months, totalling over £300,000.

Grierson's monthly outgoings totalled £40,000 and he began the bogus travel fraud to cover his losses.