The Divorce That Wasn’t

A Hearing Committee Report of the Alberta Law Society addresses the following allegation

It was alleged that Mr. Persad created a fake divorce document in order to prove to a third party with whom he wished to have a personal relationship that he was divorced from his wife when, in fact, he was not. It was further alleged that he impersonated his wife in text messages to the third party to falsely corroborate that he and his wife were divorced.

The charges were sustained on these agreed findings

1. In or about June, 2018 Mr. Persad fabricated an alleged Danish divorce certificate (the “Fake Divorce Certificate”) for the purpose of convincing his girlfriend that he was divorced from his wife.
2. He was not, in fact, divorced from his wife at that time.
3. He used Denmark as the jurisdiction because he and his wife had lived there at one time.
4. He sent a picture of the “Fake Divorce Certificate” to his girlfriend in an effort to mislead her. He used his work phone. He did not attempt to mislead anyone else with the Fake Divorce Certificate…
5. In or about July, 2018 Mr. Persad’s girlfriend asked to contact Mr. Persad’s wife to confirm the divorce. Mr. Persad did not want his girlfriend to have contact and potentially aggravate his wife as his wife was due to give birth to Mr. and Ms. Persad’s first child a few weeks hence.
6.  In response Mr. Persad sent his girlfriend messages from a fake phone number, pretending to be his wife. The text messages contained false and misleading information about Mr. Persad’s marriage.
7. Subsequently Mr. Persad’s girlfriend sent the Fake Divorce Certificate to Mr. Persad’s wife through Facebook and asked whether or not Mr. and Ms. Persad were divorced.
8. In response, in September, 2018 Mr. Persad’s wife contacted the Danish Consulate in Calgary for assistance translating the Fake Divorce Certificate, and to determine if a divorce was actually executed. Subsequently an Assisting Consular Officer advised her that the Fake Divorce Certificate was fake.
9.   On October 29, 2018 a complaint was received by the LSA alleging unprofessional and unethical conduct by Mr. Persad arising from these events. Citations were issued in October, 2019.

The committee cited a number of mitigating factors.

A six-month suspension was ordered

That said, the members of this Hearing Committee wish to make it very clear that we denounce the decisions Mr. Persad made which resulted in the citations against him.  His conduct crossed lines not only with regards to his duty as a lawyer but in the risk to the public that his deceit and manipulation created. By all accounts it appears he is taking steps to stabilize his personal life. He must. His loved ones are members of the public. We wondered, in coming to our decision, that if Mr. Persad was capable of such conduct towards those for whom he has/had strong feelings (love), what is his potential towards people for whom he has no feelings? The demonstrable steps Mr. Persad takes to show change in meaningful ways will be the prime indicator of risks to the public of his future practice as a lawyer.

(Mike Frisch)