By Staff
Northwest Asian Weekly
A former senior partner in the Hong Kong offices of K&L Gates is serving 12 years in jail for what the South China Morning Post is calling Hong Kong’s biggest fraud case.
The Morning Post reported that Navin-Kumar Aggarwal, 47, pleaded guilty in connection with a HK$8.5 billion fraud and money laundering scheme to pay off gambling debts.
The scheme victimized 92 potential investors, two clients and the K&L Gates law firm between 2007 and 2011, according to the paper.
Aggarwal conducted the scheme through the K&L Gates accounting staff in order to pay off his own gambling debts, the newspaper reported.
According to the newspaper, Aggarwal would approach potential investors with a false business opportunity and ask them to deposit money with the law firm. Aggarwal would then funnel the clients’ money through a dormant account, which he had taken over.
The law firm ended up paying compensation to the defrauded clients and faced lawsuits as a result of the scheme, according to the paper.
K&L Gates is the international law firm created by the merger of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham with Preston Gates and Ellis, the Seattle-based international law firm founded by William Gates, Sr. (end)