Perrin accepts law ban

DISGRACED former Billabong surfwear boss Matthew Perrin, who was jailed two years ago, has told a tribunal he agrees to be struck off as a lawyer.

The Legal Services Commissioner brought a disciplinary charge against Perrin, based on his 2016 conviction and jailing for fraud and forgery in 2017.

Perrin was found guilty after a District Court trial of forging his then-wife’s signature to access more than $13 million from the Commonwealth Bank.

The Commissioner asked for Perrin to be struck off the roll of legal practitioners.

Perrin has not held a practising certificate as a solicitor for several years.

Speaking via an audio-link from jail yesterday, Perrin told the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) he would consent to the strikeoff application.

“I’ve written to the Legal Services Commission to say I haven’t practised in 20 years. I have no intention, I volunteered to be removed, I consent to be removed,” Perrin told the tribunal.

Perrin said there was no need for the LSC to make a tribunal application, as he had consented, because of the costs and waste of time involved.

However, QCAT president Justice Martin Daubney said the matter would be listed for a hearing on a date to be fixed and gave Perrin appear by phone.

Justice Daubney said he expected it to be a relatively brief hearing and he would try to get it heard as quickly as possible.

Perrin was found guilty in 2016 of three charges of fraud and six of forgery and sentenced to eight years in jail in 2017.

He was convicted of forging leave to a number of signatures, including those of now ex-wife Nicole Bricknell and brother Fraser Perrin, in order to swindle the Commonwealth Bank.

After an appeal in 2017, Perrin had six months cut from his sentence, with his parole eligibility date set for June, 2020.

He was unsuccessful in appeals against his convictions in the Court of Appeal.