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A longtime B.C. lawyer has been disbarred after admitting that he misappropriated and improperly withdrew money from a large estate he was handling.

“The respondent’s misconduct is extremely serious, demonstrating a fundamental lack of honesty and integrity and a deliberate neglect of his professional duties,” wrote The Law Society of British Columbia’s hearing panel in a decision released Monday.

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The case dates back to February 2007 when James Anthony Comparelli drew up a will for a longtime client of Comparelli’s father (a recently retired lawyer). According to the panel’s ruling, the first error Comparelli made was to place in the will a $40,000 gift to himself.

The client died in June 2014 and in February 2015 Comparelli paid himself the $40,000 gift, that was to be on top of $332,800 that he was to earn in executor fees.

In September 2016, without getting authorization from the beneficiaries, Comparelli withdrew $137,000 as a part payment for his fees. The panel heard that Comparelli used that money to pay a debt owed by his wife and to pay down his own line of credit and credit card. Comparelli was also found to have withdrawn $40,500 from the estate trust fund in three payments when he was not entitled to the funds.