A lawyer accused of "wrongfully“ taking more than $28 million from a company linked to a Bermuda-based multibillion-dollar charitable trust has been ordered to pay it back Evatt Tamine denies any wrongdoing in relation to the funds he transferred from Spanish Steps Holdings Ltd but Chief Justice Narinder Hargun ruled he had given “entirely unconvincing” explanations for why he should be allowed to withdraw an agreement to repay them The island’s top judge criticised Mr Tamine for taking up “disproportionate use” of the court’s time with his “strategic manoeuvring” and said his submissions about his early employment here suggested he might have breached the Immigration Act an Australian who gained Bermudian status in 2017 through marriage worked here for Texan billionaire Robert Brockman for many years helping to manage a web of offshore entities linked to the A Eugene Brockman Charitable Trust his family’s Fairylands home was raided by police assisting the United States Department of Justice which was investigating Mr Brockman for tax evasion Mr Tamine gained immunity from prosecution after agreeing to be a witness in the largest-ever tax fraud prosecution brought against a person in the US the former chief executive officer of Reynolds & Reynolds denies the allegations and a trial in Houston is pending along with a company which was the trustee of the Brockman Charitable Trust launched civil proceedings against Mr Tamine and his Bermuda-based company and £5 million (about $6.1 million) from Spanish Steps between 2016 and 2018 The Chief Justice’s ruling also reveals that Mr Tamine denied “allegations of breach of duty and dishonesty“ and later said that Mr Brockman continued to accuse him of theft and dishonesty when there was “no proper basis for doing so” Mr Justice Hargun entered a judgment in favour of Spanish Steps – a British Virgin Islands company set up in 1989 by Mr Brockman – in those amounts The Chief Justice, in his May 6 ruling having previously filed a defence in which he agreed to repay the money later asked for permission to change the repayment proposal Mr Tamine claimed he “initially decided to offer to repay all the money without prejudice to the fact that there had been no wrongdoing” because he did not have access at the time to records which would prove the “basis of the $5.395 million payment and the $16.8 million payment“ He said he also hoped by agreeing to repay the money “Mr Brockman and his associates would cease making offensive accusations against me Mr Justice Hargun said: “The court finds both of these explanations entirely unconvincing “ … it is incredible that someone in the position of Mr Tamine should admit liability and agreed to pay an amount in excess of $29 million unless he and his legal advisers genuinely believed that there was no reasonably arguable legal defence to the claim.” The $5.395 million payment was in relation to Bewdley owned by Mr Tamine’s wife Sophie Tod’s family through a trust Mr Tamine’s sworn evidence was that he and Mr Brockman agreed he would buy Bewdley renovate it and then lease it to the company which was the trustee of the Brockman Charitable Trust He said the $5.395 million comprised of a loan of $2.495 million and money he was owed by Mr Brockman under his employment agreement He claimed Mr Brockman agreed at a meeting in 2017 that the full amount had been repaid represented by local lawyer Paul Harshaw and British QC David Brownbill also claimed Mr Brockman agreed to the $16.8 million payment during an August 2018 telephone call and that it was advance payment of six years worth of his salary after he and his wife decided to move to England He said the £5 million was to cover his legal costs after the raid on his home and that a director of the trustee company But the Chief Justice rejected his evidence The judge wrote: “A feature of this case which greatly concerns the court is that the proposed case which Mr Tamine seeks to advance in relation to the three payments and against Mr Brockman is entirely based upon his oral agreements with Mr Brockman for which there is no documentation which memorialises those agreements.” The judge said Mr Tamine’s recent submissions to the court included the assertion that while his work permit between 2004 and 2007 – before he married – was obtained by Tangarra he was “in reality discharging his employment obligations to Mr Brockman …” He said Mr Tamine and his lawyers appeared not to have “sufficiently taken into account” that such a claim may place Mr Tamine and Tangarra – which Mr Tamine wholly owns – in breach of the Immigration 1956 Act The judge said there was “strong evidence against” the new suggestion that Mr Tamine and Mr Brockman had a direct legal relationship of employer and employee He dismissed Mr Tamine’s application to enter an amended defence but gave him leave to pursue a counterclaim against Spanish Steps the trustee of the Brockman Charitable Trust which The trustee was previously the St John’s Trust Company Ltd Mr Tamine referred in his affidavit evidence to allegations of theft and dishonesty made against him by the plaintiffs but that these allegations were not pleaded in the proceedings Which of the Throne Speech promises is the Government best equipped to deliver on View Results Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time An Australian barrister has been sensationally accused of stealing assets worth $US20 million from the charitable trust fund of a reclusive Texan billionaire But Evatt Tamine claims this allegation is untrue and is payback for his co-operation with US authorities in a criminal investigation into potential tax evasion and money laundering of up to US$2 billion by the fabulously wealthy Robert T Australian barrister Evatt Tamine at his Balmain residence.Credit: Dean Sewell If the Brockman probe proceeds to trial "then it will be one of the largest tax evasion cases by individuals in US history" Mr Tamine's lawyers told the chief justice of the Bermudan Supreme Court the tiny British island territory far out in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina was one of 30 countries blacklisted by the European Union in 2015 as part of a crackdown on tax havens who's been at the Bermudan bar since 1999 has been acting for the Texan billionaire since 2004 Since 2010 he was the sole trustee of a Bermudan entity which has assets worth billions of dollars In August last year Mr Tamine was back in Australia to sign the contracts for a house he and his wife Sophie Tod had just snapped up in Darling Street Victorian Italianate mansion Hexham was purchased by expat barrister Evatt Tamine for $7.5m in 2019.Credit: Dean Sewell On 29 August 2018 a search warrant was signed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Bermuda on behalf of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) the Bermudan police raided "Valencia" – the Tamines' impressive Hidden Lane house During the Bermudan court battle earlier this year Mr Tamine's legal team claimed he has been given immunity in the US and has given evidence before a Grand Jury Mr Tamine also argued that legal actions brought against him in England and Bermuda were designed to improperly obstruct the DOJ's investigations into the tax affairs of Mr Brockman The reclusive 78-year-old Mr Brockman made his fortune supplying software and services to the automotive industry In 2006 he purchased rival company Reynolds and Reynolds for $US2.8 billion That company – still privately owned by Mr Brockman – has its headquarters in Ohio with offices in Texas In 2013 Mr Brockman shot to prominence with the announcement that the A Eugene Brockman Charitable Trust (started by his late father in 1981) was donating $250 million to a tiny liberal arts college in rural Kentucky At the time Mr Tamine was quoted saying that the donation was in recognition of Mr Brockman Snr's appreciation of "the tremendous impact" Centre College had on his son Bob whose "drive and ambition were empowered" by his two-year experience there two months later it had to announce that the donation was not going ahead as it had been contingent on a business deal that had not yet been completed "There were all sorts of things we didn't anticipate and couldn't address in time," said the trustee Mr Tamine Mr Brockman has been a major donor to Republican and conservative causes each donated $333,333 to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is allegedly the target of a major US tax probe hard-nosed businessman who prefers to litigate than negotiate Mr Brockman in 2014 launched an unsuccessful lawsuit in the Texas Supreme court to uncover the identity of "Trooper" – a blogger who had been posting critical comments about the billionaire the blogger said Mr Brockman was a "lunatic" and a "crook" and likened him to Bernie Madoff who was jailed in 2009 for running the biggest Ponzi scheme in US history The court rejected his efforts to unmask "Trooper" Of late Mr Brockman's legal team appears to be hitting some hurdles in Bermuda On March 26 Chief Justice Narinder Hargun handed down two related judgments The first related to the control of SJTC which the court heard was the corporate trustee administering "a very valuable trust The dispute centred on the appointment of two new directors lawyers for SJTC accused him of "stealing trust assets of the value of more than $US20 million" They feared the appointment of the two new directors was to "derail" any investigation into Mr Tamine's activities Mr Tamine's lawyers claimed the proceedings were designed to discourage him from assisting the US tax probe into Mr Brockman Queensland solicitor Glenn Ferguson has been appointed a director of trust company based in Bermuda His US attorney Michael Padula filed an affidavit saying that Mr Tamine was aware that the "tax and money laundering investigation" by the DOJ and the US Internal Revenue Service suggested the suspected tax evasion by Mr Brockman was "more than US$2 billion of unreported gains" The judge noted Mr Padula's belief that if the matter proceeds to trial "it will be one of the largest tax evasion cases by individuals in US history" Although Mr Tamine had resigned as a director of SJTC shortly after his house was raided the trust is wholly owned by his company Cabarita – which late last year appointed two of his associates as directors of SJTC One of the new directors is solicitor Glenn Ferguson a past president of the Queensland Law Society whose current business interests include Global Meth Solutions a device for landlords to tell if their property is being used as a drug den a barrister of 40-years' experience in Bermuda SJTC's lawyers accused Mr Tamine of appointing the two directors to "hijack" the investigations into his activities or to glean SJTC's litigation strategy filed an affidavit in which he expressed concern that if he was outvoted by the two new directors there was "extreme" danger they could have "access to the trust funds." In a judgment partially redacted because of an unspecified confidentiality order Judge Hargun ruled in Mr Tamine's favour and found that Mr Ferguson and Mr Watlington had been validly appointed in October 2019 and that there was no suggestion they had colluded with Mr Tamine or had done anything dishonest or improper He found that when SJTC took action to have their appointments overturned Meanwhile in a separate judgment also delivered on March 26 and also in Mr Tamine's favour Judge Hargun was critical of the attempts by lawyers for Mr Brockman's charitable trust to stop the Bermudan police from reviewing the seized documents Given that it has been nearly two years since the DOJ request was received by the Bermuda authorities the judge directed that the inspection of the seized material should be undertaken "expeditiously." Mr Tamine and Mr Brockman declined to comment The Herald sought comment from Mr Ferguson Editor’s Note: Paragraph 15 of the Bermuda Supreme Court Judgment was subsequently unredacted to record that the United States Department of Justice submitted to the Court that the allegation of theft against Mr Tamine by Brockman was an attempt to interfere with its investigation If the Brockman probe proceeds to trial \\\"then it will be one of the largest tax evasion cases by individuals in US history\\\" Mr Tamine's lawyers told the chief justice of the Bermudan Supreme Court the Bermudan police raided \\\"Valencia\\\" \\u2013 the Tamines' impressive Hidden Lane house During the Bermudan court battle earlier this year Mr Tamine's legal team claimed he has been given immunity in the US and has given evidence before a Grand Jury Mr Tamine also argued that legal actions brought against him in England and Bermuda were designed to improperly obstruct the DOJ's investigations into the tax affairs of Mr Brockman That company \\u2013 still privately owned by Mr Brockman \\u2013 has its headquarters in Ohio with offices in Texas was in recognition of Mr Brockman Snr's appreciation of \\\"the tremendous impact\\\" Centre College had on his son Bob whose \\\"drive and ambition were empowered\\\" by his two-year experience there \\\"There were all sorts of things we didn't anticipate and couldn't address in time,\\\" said the trustee Mr Tamine each donated $333,333 to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign Mr Brockman in 2014 launched an unsuccessful lawsuit in the Texas Supreme court to uncover the identity of \\\"Trooper\\\" \\u2013 a blogger who had been posting critical comments about the billionaire the blogger said Mr Brockman was a \\\"lunatic\\\" and a \\\"crook\\\" and likened him to Bernie Madoff The court rejected his efforts to unmask \\\"Trooper\\\" Of late Mr Brockman's legal team appears to be hitting some hurdles in Bermuda The first related to the control of SJTC which the court heard was the corporate trustee administering \\\"a very valuable trust lawyers for SJTC accused him of \\\"stealing trust assets of the value of more than $US20 million\\\" They feared the appointment of the two new directors was to \\\"derail\\\" any investigation into Mr Tamine's activities Mr Tamine's lawyers claimed the proceedings were designed to discourage him from assisting the US tax probe into Mr Brockman Mr Tamine was aware that the \\\"tax and money laundering investigation\\\" by the DOJ and the US Internal Revenue Service suggested the suspected tax evasion by Mr Brockman was \\\"more than US$2 billion of unreported gains\\\" The judge noted Mr Padula's belief that if the matter proceeds to trial \\\"it will be one of the largest tax evasion cases by individuals in US history\\\" the trust is wholly owned by his company Cabarita \\u2013 which late last year appointed two of his associates as directors of SJTC a barrister of 40-years' experience in Bermuda SJTC's lawyers accused Mr Tamine of appointing the two directors to \\\"hijack\\\" the investigations into his activities or to glean SJTC's litigation strategy filed an affidavit in which he expressed concern that if he was outvoted by the two new directors there was \\\"extreme\\\" danger they could have \\\"access to the trust funds.\\\" Judge Hargun ruled in Mr Tamine's favour and found that Mr Ferguson and Mr Watlington had been validly appointed in October 2019 Meanwhile in a separate judgment also delivered on March 26 and also in Mr Tamine's favour Judge Hargun was critical of the attempts by lawyers for Mr Brockman's charitable trust to stop the Bermudan police from reviewing the seized documents the judge directed that the inspection of the seized material should be undertaken \\\"expeditiously.\\\" Editor\\u2019s Note: Paragraph 15 of the Bermuda Supreme Court Judgment was subsequently unredacted to record that the United States Department of Justice submitted to the Court that the allegation of theft against Mr Tamine by Brockman was an attempt to interfere with its investigation If you have any queries about this error, try emailing feedback@mirror.co.uk and we'll do what we can to help you