Jersey lawyer jailed for role in money laundering

Advocate Justin Michel was accused of accepting assets - understood to be in excess of £1.1m - from his father Peter, a convicted money launderer.

The Crown said Michel had “falsely represented” that the assets were payment for legal services and that transfers of shares in companies were payment for services provided in respect of those companies.

At the end of March this year a jury of the Royal Court of Jersey found Michel guilty. He was sentenced to a 15-month jail term on 6 May.

A spokesperson for the Jersey Bailiff’s Chambers, or judicial office, said Michel had filed a notice that he intended to appeal the sentence.

Accountant Peter Michel was found guilty of 10 counts of money laundering and tax evasion in 2007 and sentenced to several years in prison. It was reported at the time that Peter Michel had laundered £27m.

Voisin litigation partner Michael Preston represented Justin Michel before the Royal Court, with the Crown represented by independent advocate Matthew Jowitt.