Notary Tommy Vella has been jailed for seven years and fined €150,000 after admitting to misappropriating money from 85 clients. 

Vella, who was charged in 2019, originally denied running off with his clients’ money. He decided to change his plea in November.

Apart from the jail term, a court ordered the confiscation of €661,000 from Vella.

The former notary was also ordered to repay a list of 85 clients and was barred from ever acting as a notary again.

Times of Malta reported in 2022 how Vella was being chased by a string of angry clients after allegedly running off with tens of thousands of euros in home deposits.

Apart from the criminal case, Vella had also featured as a defendant in at least nine civil lawsuits, including those filed by former clients desperate to recoup down payments they trusted him with for their future homes.

A Facebook page set up by his victims alleges that his “flamboyant lifestyle”, backed by pictures of fine wines and expensive football tickets, was all funded by their “stolen” property deposits.

The notarial council stripped Vella of his warrant in 2019.

In April of that same year, Vella, son of the late judge Patrick Vella, was at the wheel of a car that ran over an Irish tourist who had just landed in Malta.

FIAU chasing Vella over €60,500 fine

A review of his activities in 2018 by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) discovered that Vella failed to keep basic client paperwork, like the deeds of sale on client properties.

Court filings show the FIAU, too, is chasing Vella to pay the €60,500 fine for the “systemic and serious” breaches in his obligations to carry out basic anti-money laundering checks on his clients.

The FIAU noted how, at the time, Vella showed a “complete disinterest” in improving his operations.