Russell Findlay - @RussellFindlay1

AMERICAN social media stars were given Government-funded, all expense paid trips to Scotland in exchange for gushing online reviews. Four online ‘ influencers ’ were gifted the freebie visits and put up in five-star accommodation across the country. But the Twitter, Instagram and YouTube posts they published were not marked as advertising, in a likely breach of US Federal Trade Commission laws. Mary Engle, head of the FTC's advertising practices division, said: " Under FTC law, advertising should be identifiable as advertising, in whatever medium it appears. "This means a social media post that's a promotional message rather than an independent opinion should be clearly presented as such, for example through a prominent disclosure that it is sponsored advertising. "We issued guidance for advertisers and endorsers outlining when, why and how they must disclose their relationship so that consumers are not misled into thinking that sponsored pos

A CROOKED lawyer jailed for defrauding £50,000 of legal aid cash is making an astonishing comeback by lecturing the public about how to ‘access funds’. Mark Strachan, 59, was sentenced to two years in 2014 after being found guilty of committing 341 separate frauds against the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB). Aberdeenshire-based charity Gordon Rural Action (GRA) is charging members of the public £25 to hear him speak in Inverurie in May. Strachan’s talk is about power of attorney - the legal right to look after someone else’s personal and financial affairs. Publicity for the event highlights key topics including how to ‘ recognise alternative methods to gain access to money ’. The advert states: “ Mark has a varied job history which, in addition to becoming a volunteer general advisor, involved being a practising solicitor and advocate. “As such he has a mass of legal knowledge and is qualified in delivering first tier advice and assistance in power of attorney.

A LIQUIDATOR has dropped his multi-million claim against lawyers linked to a £400million finance firm run by Scotland’s biggest bankrupt. Paul Duffy sued Levy & McRae after global hedge fund Heather Capital collapsed amid allegations that £90million was unaccounted for. Heather - likened to a ‘Ponzi’ fraud by a judge - was run by Glasgow lawyer Gregory King, 49, who has since been bankrupted.  Duffy sought £28.4million damages from Levy & McRae and four of its current and former partners. But at a hearing in front of Lord Doherty at the Court of Session this week [March 7, 2018] the case was formally abandoned by Duffy, of accountancy giants Ernst & Young. The claim had centred on £19million and £9.4million of investors’ cash which was paid into Levy’s client account and then transferred offshore and cannot be traced. Duffy also questioned ‘ an unexplained payment of £200,000 ’ made to former Levy & McRae partner Peter Watson, who was suspended