A Sussex solicitor has been charged with 44 offences of fraud totalling £77,000.
Criminal lawyer Nigel Weller faces charges involving the alleged fraudulent receipt of legal aid payments.
Mr Weller, who has offices close to Lewes Crown Court, was charged at Worthing police station yesterday after he attended voluntarily.
The 47-year-old was arrested and charged with 43 counts of false accounting and one of deception.
He was released on police bail to appear at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court.
Mr Weller, of Park Lane, Laughton, near Lewes, has been practising criminal law in Sussex for many years.
The charges follow a three-year investigation by Sussex detectives.
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