VETERAN attorney Don Foote, who was accused of defrauding a client of $12 million, was yesterday freed of fraud charges in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.

The 60-year-old attorney, who was arrested and charged with fraudulent conversion in May 2015, walked free after Justice Broderick Smith threw out the case in the midst of the trial. This was after Foote’s attorney, his son Abel-Don, made submissions to the judge asking for the case to be discontinued as there was no reasonable prospect of the Crown securing a conviction given that his client had presented the money via a manager’s cheque on the day he was charged.

The $12 million that Foote was accused of fraudulently converting was part of an $18-million settlement awarded to a 17-year-old boy in a personal injury lawsuit against Jamaica Public Service (JPS), when the teen lost his hand after receiving severe burns from a high-tension wire.

Allegations in the matter are that in 2013, the Hanover complainant, who is a cousin of the injured teenager, retained Foote to file a personal injury claim lawsuit against the light and power company.

An $18-million settlement was arrived at on September 24, 2013 in the Supreme Court.

It was further alleged that JPS later paid over the money in full, via wire transfer, to Foote’s Scotiabank account at Savanna-la-Mar in Westmoreland, and the lawyer failed to hand over the sum to the claimant.

But in court yesterday, Abel-Don argued that not only had his client presented the money, but the injured man had received the money from 2016, on reaching the age of maturity, as the money was being held in trust by Foote until the minor reached 18.

Abel-Don also argued that the continued prosecution of the case was malicious and should not be sanctioned by the court, in light of the fact that the injured man was not a witness for the Crown and is vital in helping to prove the Crown’s case.

The young man, who had earlier given a statement indicating that he was not in support of the case brought by the trustee, also gave another statement to this effect in court yesterday.

As a result, the prosecutor conceded and offered no further evidence.

Judge Smith, in dismissing the matter, pointed out that it would be an abuse of power to continue the case against the attorney.

In the meantime, Foote told the Jamaica Observer that he was happy with the outcome of the case as it proves that he was innocent.

“I feel a bit relieved but I am disappointed for it to be shown, after three years, that this prosecution was malicious. I had accounted from day one for the money and on the day I was charged I had a manager’s cheque in the boy’s name and I had instructions from the boy’s mother and the boy himself, who was to turn 18, not to let his cousin have the money,” he said.