The former Locke Lord partner who was last month struck off for using a client account to run a "dubious" £21m investment scheme has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud.

Jonathan Denton, a former banking and finance partner in Locke Lord's London office, appeared at Leeds Magistrate Court this morning (11 June) after being charged by North Yorkshire Police on 27 April.

The charges relate to the investment scheme, which he set up in 2012 shortly after joining Locke Lord. He ran the scheme for more than two years, despite growing concerns prompted by enquiries from the FBI and the Metropolitan Police, and was eventually fired by the firm in July 2015 before being arrested at Birmingham Airport that October.

Denton today denied the fraud charges, and his case has been moved to trial at Leeds Crown Court, starting 6 July.

His court appearance comes after he was struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) last month and ordered to pay £70,000 in costs. The SDT judgment stated that Denton's actions were "motivated by financial gain" and were "a flagrant breach of trust", adding that he had caused significant harm to investors, some of who had suffered "severe financial difficulties" as a result.

Denton did not appear before the SDT and did not respond to the tribunal's enquiries, with the judgment stating that he had "failed to comply with his legal and regulatory obligations".

His solicitors in the criminal matter wrote to the SDT to request it be adjourned due to the fraud charges, citing "the significant risk of causing prejudice to the later criminal proceedings".

The SDT agreed, stating that if Denton did attend the tribunal to give evidence, he would be able to do so in private and that there would be two versions of its final judgment, one of which would be retracted so as not to include evidence given by Denton.

Despite this, Denton did not attend the hearing and was not represented.

Locke Lord was last year fined a record £500,000 after admitting four failings relating to its supervision of Denton. The firm has since appointed new London management and has appointed additional staff to better monitor compliance in the London office

Prior to joining Locke Lord in 2012, Denton was a partner at Mishcon de Reya, Salans and Wragge & Co.

Photo credit: Mtaylor848