Hacked emails and torture claims: how top lawyer Neil Gerrard became engulfed in serious allegations

In December 2019, personal investigator Stuart Web page left his cell phone at house and boarded a collection of trains to succeed in a boutique lodge nestled within the Swiss mountains, the place he would meet British lawyer Neil Gerrard.

They weren’t reuniting for a winter break, however, based on Web page, to rehearse a mock trial having ready an elaborate fiction to hide a hacking operation from the Excessive Court docket.

The pair had been summoned to offer proof in relation to allegations that that they had relied on hacked paperwork to assist a Center Jap consumer win a fraud case.

These allegations have now dramatically resurfaced, as Web page turned on Gerrard in an explosive affidavit filed with a US courtroom final week that tells a narrative of burner telephones, secret lodge assignations and a cover-up involving one of many world’s strongest legislation corporations.

The affidavit, seen by the Monetary Occasions, is the newest in a collection of blistering allegations, together with torture and human rights abuses, to have been levelled at Gerrard, regarding his work within the Center East, all of which he denies.

Gerrard, who retired in 2020, and Dechert, the worldwide legislation agency he joined in 2011, at the moment are battling lawsuits that quantity to a few of the most critical claims ever to have been levelled towards a lawyer or agency.

Hacked emails and Center East enterprise offers

Gerrard, a former policeman, was one of many Metropolis of London’s prime litigators, having joined Dechert on a pay deal price about $3m a yr to co-lead its white-collar crime apply.

He and Web page labored collectively for a tiny United Arab Emirate named Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) to research the previous chief government of its sovereign wealth fund, Khater Massaad, who the ruler suspected of embezzlement, and who was later convicted. Gerrard was employed in 2014 and Web page a yr later, based on his affidavit.

RAK’s funding fund agreed in 2007 to again Kansas-based aviation tycoon, Farhad Azima, to develop a pilot coaching camp that closed down some years later, and promote a lodge in Georgia.

The offers went bitter, and his ties to Massaad put Azima within the highlight for Gerrard and Web page.

In 2016, the Emirate’s fund, the Ras Al Khaimah Funding Authority (RAKIA), sued Azima for £3.7m for alleged fraudulent misrepresentation on the Excessive Court docket in London over the pilot college and breach of contract on the lodge deal.

RAKIA’s largely profitable case towards Azima was primarily based on a cache of his hacked emails, which appeared on-line in 2016 as a part of a so-called “hack and dump” operation. In witness testimony for RAKIA, Web page and Gerrard claimed to have innocently stumbled upon the hacked info through an Israeli journalist named Majdi Halabi, who additionally gave proof.

The decide stated there was “no dispute” that RAKIA’s case towards Azima was primarily based on proof obtained by means of hacking, however allowed the proof for use. Azima was discovered chargeable for fraudulent misrepresentation and bribery in 2020 and ordered to pay greater than $4m. He was later granted a retrial of his declare that he had been hacked by RAKIA, which is pending.

Final week Web page stated his and Gerrard’s testimony concerning the emails was a lie. He claimed within the affidavit that the Azima paperwork got here from Amit Forlit, a former Israeli intelligence officer, who Web page was paying for info. Based on Web page’s affidavit, Forlit’s brokers employed intelligence strategies together with “hacking strategies”. Forlit didn’t reply to a request for remark.

The affidavit was filed in a courtroom in Manhattan as a part of Azima’s bid to uncover paperwork from an affiliate of RAKIA within the US.

It claimed that Gerrard was not solely conscious of the origin of Azima’s hacked information however orchestrated an elaborate cowl story to cover its origins so it may very well be used as proof to safe a victory within the Excessive Court docket for RAKIA.

A mock trial in a Swiss lodge

In December 2019, weeks earlier than the Azima trial was attributable to start, Web page travelled to Switzerland to satisfy Gerrard, Halabi and Forlit. Web page stated in his affidavit that he sought to “keep away from detection” — witnesses in trials in England should not talk about their proof and it’s unlawful to lie in proof to a courtroom.

On the lodge, Gerrard led a mock trial, enjoying decide and cross-examiner, based on the affidavit, and the group made use of a personal chef and wine cellar.

A month later, Gerrard would inform the Excessive Court docket that the notion he had relied upon hacked information to construct a case towards Azima was “preposterous”. 

Azima has now sued Dechert and Gerrard, including them as defendants to his hacking case, that means that they are going to face a Excessive Court docket trial in 2023 and may very well be compelled to pay damages in the event that they lose.

In an announcement, Dechert stated: “We’ve got no touch upon the proceedings past that we’re defending the claims.”

Web page will now not face trial. The case towards him was discontinued following his up to date assertion.

Uncommon use of cell phones

Dechert and Gerrard are additionally bracing themselves for the upcoming final result of a declare introduced by former consumer ENRC, a part of a global mining group, which may lead to a punitive monetary payout.

ENRC has accused Gerrard of leaking confidential details about it to the press and colluding with the UK Severe Fraud Workplace to wrongfully develop an investigation into it. Dechert and Gerrard deny these allegations and in defence filings say that Gerrard uncovered proof of fraud, corruption and sanctions breaches in relation to a few of the mining group’s actions and was simply doing his job.

The circumstances have options in frequent that expose methods wherein Gerrard could have labored, together with uncommon practices reminiscent of the previous lawyer’s use of a number of cell phones, all issued by Dechert.

Paperwork that turned public in a case regarding a former authorized adviser to RAK’s ruler, Karam Al Sadeq, revealed that Gerrard had used 26 separate cell gadgets since 2012, six of which have been misplaced and one among which was reported stolen.

Al Sadeq has accused Gerrard and different Dechert companions of being chargeable for his torture and human-rights abuses. In a defence filed final yr, the agency denied that the legal professionals had ever tortured Al Sadeq or been chargeable for another unlawful acts towards him.

Gerrard and Dechert, which has been paying the previous lawyer’s authorized payments, now face two years defending themselves in expensive lawsuits that threaten to show financially and reputationally damaging to each.