'Shark' lawyer freed from prison after just 12 months

Michael Karus embezzled 413,052 from the estate of Edith Hampton. Picture: Deadline

Michael Karus, 49, has been seen out and about in Edinburgh, though it is understood he has to wear an electronic tag until the summer and must be home before 7pm each night.

Karus, of Gloucester Place in the New Town, has boasted of being a "shark" who preyed on vulnerable victims and even named two of his firms GWS (Great White Shark) and Mako - after the shark - in celebration of his predatory style.

He was jailed in October 2009 after he admitted embezzling 413,052 while acting as executor of the estate of retired teacher Edith Hampton, 89, formerly of the Victoria Manor Nursing Home in Albert Street, who died in 2003.

Ms Hampton, who never married and had no children, hired Karus in 1992 to draw up a will leaving her estate to the Cancer Research UK charity.

But she changed her will seven years later to leave the money to June Pirie, her cousin's daughter.

Following her death, Karus transferred the money into his personal account.

Among the dispersals from that account were 115,000 to Edinburgh Metropolitan Properties, of which Karus was a director; 82,000 to the Karus & Co pension fund and 60,000 to a judicial factor, clearing off his law firm's debt.

Between 2000 and 5000 went to pay off debt on Karus' credit cards.

But Cancer Research UK repeatedly contacted him to ask why the windfall had not been paid.

Karus finally told them a second will leaving the money to Mrs Pirie had emerged.

Suspicious charity bosses contacted police in 2007 after the second will was never registered and an investigation was launched.

Karus only registered the newer will in April 2008, three weeks after appearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on petition. The police obtained a copy and the handwriting confirmed Mrs Pirie as beneficiary.

Sentencing him to three-and-a-half years' imprisonment, Sheriff Derrick McIntyre told Karus he had committed a "grave breach of trust".

Karus first hit the headlines in 1995 when it emerged he was the owner of two buildings - in Blair Street and Dundas Street - which were being used as saunas.

In 2000, he faced further embarrassment when an upstairs office he owned in Leith was used by a fireraiser to attack a shop below.

He was reprimanded by the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal in 2001 over failings in handling clients' business.

The following year, he was suspended from practising as a solicitor by the Law Society of Scotland over account irregularities.A prison insider was today quoted saying Karus had been well behaved inside.

"He did his time quietly," said the source.

A police source was quoted saying: "His liberty is not complete with the tag. He'll have to comply with the conditions or go back inside."