Mr Jones denied all of the allegations. The Tribunal found all of the allegations proved, including that his conduct had been dishonest. The Tribunal found the explanations given by Mr Jones for his conduct to have been inconsistent and implausible, bearing no scrutiny. The Tribunal found that Mr Jones did not believe that he had authority to act in the way that he did. Instead, he had engaged in a prolonged and protracted deception of his one-time friend. He had then sought to blame his misconduct on others – blaming the Firm for acting negligently and GJ for failing to provide account details. He also suggested that GJ had created a text message in order to portray a false position.