Prominent Vancouver lawyer accused of moving criminal cash dies before hearing

File photo of lawyer Michael Bolton leaving B.C. Provincial Court in Richmond, B.C. on July 8, 2004 (Richard Lam / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Editor's note: This story is a collaboration between the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF) and CTV News.

Vancouver lawyer Michael Bolton likely defended thousands of people over 50 years of practice. But in the end, he would not get a chance to defend himself.

Bolton, one of the country’s most prominent and experienced criminal defence lawyers, died in hospital on June 24, according to two friends.

The Law Society of British Columbia had accused Bolton of inappropriately moving more than $20 million in suspicious funds on behalf of clients under criminal investigation in the United States through his law firm’s trust accounts.

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The law society’s December 2022 citation of Bolton said he engaged in activities that could have “assisted in or encouraged dishonesty, crime or fraud.” In the alternative, the society said, Bolton had not done enough to avoid “becoming the tool or dupe of an unscrupulous client or other persons.”

Bolton, who denied those allegations, was scheduled to appear at a law society tribunal in early June. On June 25, the citation of Bolton was rescinded.

Christine Tam, a spokesperson for the law society, repeatedly declined to say why the citation was rescinded or confirm if it was because Bolton had died.

Former B.C. attorney general Wally Oppal, a close friend of Bolton, said the Vancouver lawyer had been treated in hospital for months after battling a long illness related to pneumonia.

“He was quite resilient. He kept practising and then he got sick and he started taking some time off, and finally he was hospitalized,” Oppal said.

Ian Donaldson, another veteran Vancouver criminal lawyer and friend of Bolton, also told the IJF in an email that Bolton had died.

The IJF confirmed with B.C.’s vital statistics branch that Philip Michael Bolton died on June 24. The IJF has not seen any public notice of a funeral or memorial service.

Multiple calls and emails to Bolton’s spouse were not returned. Someone who answered the phone at Bolton’s law office also said he had died, but did not provide their name or further comment.

‘No one worked harder than Mike’

Over half a century of legal practice, Bolton defended clients ranging from shoplifters to accused drug traffickers and a sitting member of Parliament, earning a reputation as a deft trial lawyer with a knack for winning complicated cases.

Bolton was called to the bar in 1969, and almost immediately displayed a passion for civil rights and a skepticism of state power.

According to advertisements in the Vancouver Sun and the Province, Bolton spent part of the 1970s teaching at the Vancouver People’s Law School, offering free information on civil liberties and how to retain a lawyer.

He also wrote a book called Civil Rights: The Law, The Police, and You, which he described as the “only complete guide to Canadian civil rights for ordinary citizens in everyday situations.” The book features cartoon illustrations of a man with a thick black moustache and bell-bottom jeans refusing to speak to police officers.

In 1975, Bolton was part of a committee of mostly ex-prisoners protesting conditions in Canadian prisons after a B.C. penitentiary worker was killed by inmates. Bolton told the Vancouver Sun at the time that the worker “was murdered by the Canadian Penitentiary Service.”

“He was very passionate about the whole idea of civil liberties and defence to ensure that poor people had access to the courts,” Oppal said.

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Bolton also demonstrated care for his clients that Oppal said was typical of him. In 1972, Bolton represented a 26-year-old mother in Victoria who had stolen a sweater worth $7.95, according to a report in the Vancouver Sun. Bolton succeeded in getting the judge to delay the woman’s jail time so she could take her children trick-or-treating on Halloween.

Pretty soon, Bolton’s star rose. Over the next two decades, he would represent clients including accused drug traffickers, money launderers and former NDP MP Svend Robinson, who was sentenced to 14 days in jail for his role in blocking logging on Haida Gwaii.

By 1987, Bolton was named Queen’s Counsel for his contributions to the profession, and he would later be named a lifetime “bencher” of the province’s law society.

Later, Bolton would be associated with some of the most significant trials in recent British Columbia political history. He represented Dave Basi, a B.C. Liberal political aide who eventually admitted to leaking information about the 2003 sale of BC Rail to private corporations for personal gain.

Most recently, Bolton ran his own small boutique law firm in Vancouver’s Yaletown neighbourhood, where he argued cases involving alleged fraud, corruption, large scale drug investigations and international legal disputes.

A photo from a website belonging to Michael Bolton's criminal law firm, Bolton Law, Barristers and Solicitors. Bolton is seated on the right (Source: bolton-law.ca/about)

Oppal, who met Bolton in law school, said Bolton — a former journalist — had great skill at questioning witnesses.

“He had that knack of making people feel comfortable while he was cross-examining them,” Oppal said. “He had a knack of homing in on a witness, and after that, sort of setting the witness up — he was very good.”

Bolton, Oppal said, was also a persistent and keen trial lawyer, and never came to a case unprepared.

“No one worked harder than Mike, and no one was ever shortchanged when they retained his services,” Oppal said.

Outside the courtroom, Oppal said Bolton was an avid sports fan. The two shared season Canucks tickets and would regularly travel to watch major league baseball.

• Investigation: Canadian lawyers who have played a key role in money laundering

Oppal said the law society’s allegations, which Bolton fought unsuccessfully to keep secret, came as a surprise.

The citation stemmed from a July 2019 audit of Bolton’s personal trust account, something the law society does for all practising lawyers in B.C.

The society claimed it had evidence Bolton had inappropriately accepted millions in Canadian and American currency into his law firm’s trust accounts.

The citation centred on two allegations. The first was that Bolton had used his firm’s accounts to receive or disburse C$4.87 million and US$6.51 million between October 2011 and November 2018 on behalf of five clients or related parties, who were not identified by name. The law society claimed four of those clients had “entered guilty pleas in the United States to criminal offences relating to money laundering and conspiracy to distribute wholesale quantities of misbranded prescription drugs for the foreign market.”

The second allegation was that between September 2016 and January 2020, Bolton used trust accounts to receive or disburse C$10.16 million on behalf of three clients or related parties. The citation claimed one or more had been described by American officials as a “significant transnational criminal organization” and had been subject to civil forfeiture office claims in Canada. The citation further claimed that at least one of Bolton’s clients had been “indicted in the United States for criminal offences relating to mail and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.”

Peter Leask, Bolton’s former lawyer, told other media outlets last year that the allegations against Bolton were ”entirely unfounded.”

– With files from the IJF’s Madison McLauchlan