ANT KATZ

Things are heating up for fugitive father-and-son former personal injury lawyers, Ronald and Darren Bobroff. Their temporary suspension made a final order earlier this month when they were permanently struck from the roll of attorneys in December.

The pair’s estates were also finally sequestrated in December and the Sheriff of the Court has been trying to track down and attach their assets. The sheriff managed to attach just R30,000 worth of goods in December.

RIGHT: a snapshot of the inventory document that was leaked to JR today

Last week, at the home of Ronald Bobroff in Pentrich Road, Victory Park Estate, the sheriff had more success and did manage to attach goods worth some R120 000 (CLICK TO SEE INVENTORY). This event was not without drama as, says Anthony Millar, President of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces (LSNP), was watched live by Darren Bobroff on facetime.

The sheriff didn’t find what he was looking for, but later advised: “We had received information that since that visit, caravans and vehicles have been brought back.”

Millar later told News24 that, later on Thursday afternoon, his office received a threatening phone call from someone warning him to “watch out, someone would be waiting when your wife comes home”.

LEFT: Law Society President Anthony Millar

Anthony Millar confirmed to JR Online this week that the threat had been “made to my receptionist and a message left for me”. He says he believes that it had been made by Ronald or Darren Bobroff. “To have that sort of threat made… has changed things. I intend to lay criminal charges,” he told News24.

Speaking to JR Online this week, Anthony Millar confirmed that he was “in the process” of laying the criminal complaint. He is “presently awaiting the details of the caller from Telkom,” who he had “asked to trace it”.

In an interview last November Millar told JR Online that the Bobroffs had “brought shame on their profession, their families and their community”. Millar said that 99 per cent of the questionable dealings so far uncovered by the LRNP had been “signed off by Darren Bobroff”.

At that stage, the LSNP audit had identified some R3,5 million in overcharges that the Bobroffs’ specialised personal injury practice, the now-defunct Ronald Bobroff and Partners Incorporated (RBP), had charged former clients. This week, Millar said that figure had increased almost five-fold to over R17 million… and investigation of their records continues.

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Total losses exceed R1 billion and rising

Millar himself is currently representing 13 claimants, while attorneys Riekie Erasmus are also representing some of them, he says.

Apart from facing serious criminal charges, the father-and-son pair who are now fugitives in Australia, face a massive number of civil claims which are being investigated and quantified by numerous investigations being conducted by the Road Accident Fund, SA Revenue Services, the police special crimes unit – the Hawks, the National Prosecuting Authority and others.

One of the members of the authorities conducting these investigations told Jewish Report that the combined total of these claims had exceeded the R1 billion mark last October.

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‘Indiscriminate in who they overcharged’

In terms of the mix of the allegedly injured parties, says Millar, “there have been Jewish victims also – they were indiscriminate in choosing who they overcharged.”

RIGHT: A quote from one of the Jewish victims

One of the first and most-read stories on Jewish Report early last April, Sheila’s Story – how tragedy played out, explains the plight of some of the affected Jews.

Millar’s present clients include “a 78-year-old woman and another who requires the money for urgent medical treatment”.

The Bobroff pair, who Jewish Report was advised by an Australian associate on condition of anonymity last year, were hoping to register to practice law in Australia, may also find that goose cooked for them.

 Millar told Jewish Report this week that “the authorities in Australia were notified as soon as (Ronald and Darren Bobroff) were struck off (the roll) here, and they have acknowledged receipt of that notification,” he said. “If you are not fit to practise in one country, it obviously is of interest to other jurisdictions. They handle that from their side.”

Due to face fraud and money-laundering charges involving hundreds of millions of rand the two fled before being questioned by the Hawks.

Story continues below image…

Claimants lodged a litany of allegations against the Bobroffs, alleging that they charged a contingency fee of as much as 40 per cent of Road Accident Fund pay-outs, exceeding the legal cap of 25 per cent or double their normal fees, whichever is the lesser. They are accused of later using every means at their disposal to silence dissenters. In Bobroff whistle-blower claims kidnapping last year Jewish Report and Carte Blanche show how far they were allegedly prepared to go towards this end.

Financial powerhouse Discovery also has a long-running legal battle against the pair for, according to Discovery, claiming medical fees from the Road Accident Fund and advising clients not to reimburse Discovery with pay-outs due to them.

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Related reads:

Jewish Report Online offers the most comprehensive repository of information on this story, anywhere. Follow the fall of Ronald Bobroff, a respected former decades-long president of the LSNP and his son Darren (who both continue to insist of their innocence). JR Online has followed them since before they offered to hand themselves in for arrest by the Hawks if they could just have a weekend to get their affairs in order last February.

That was when they reportedly emptied out trust accounts, dumped (at least some of the) money in the bank account of Ronald’s wife without her knowledge, skipped the country and by the time the weekend was over – they were gone!

CLICK HERE TO FIND IT ALL