Several readers have pointed out to me that Starwalker Executive Producer/Showrunner Jonathan Nolan was disbarred as an attorney in Australia seven years ago on three counts of misappropriation of money from a trust fund he controlled.
In the decision, delivered on Aug. 9, 2002, the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory removed Nolan from the Roll of Legal Practitioners “on the ground that he is no longer a fit and proper person to practise as a legal practioner.” The decision came after “he pleaded guilty before the Disciplinary Tribunal to three counts involving defalcation from his trust account.”
Wikipedia describes the term as:
A defalcation is an amount of funds misappropriated by a person trusted with its charge; also, the act of misappropriation, or an instance thereof….The term is used in legal proceedings other than bankruptcy to refer more generally to embezzlement.
Nolan did not attend his disbarment hearing, but he sent a letter in which he did not oppose the action. The disbarment request was made by the Law Society of the Northern Territory.
The text of the ruling:
[1] This is an application on the part of the Law Society for an order that the name of Jonathan Peter Nolan be removed from the Roll of Legal Practitioners on the ground that he is no longer a fit and proper person to practise as a legal practitioner.
[2] The Court notes that Mr Nolan has pleaded guilty before the Disciplinary Tribunal to three counts involving defalcation from his trust account. The circumstances of that misconduct are set out in the materials provided to the Court and need not be discussed in detail now. We accept the material placed before the court in the affidavit of Maria Ceresa, along with the submissions of Mr Barr of counsel.
[3] The misconduct of Mr Nolan is of a kind that this court has on previous occasions indicated will not be tolerated. In this case there is no explanation for the misconduct. The unexplained conduct clearly indicates that Mr Nolan is not a fit and proper person to practise as a legal practitioner.
[4] Mr Nolan has not appeared today, however we have received a letter from him in which he indicates that he has no objection to being struck off the Roll and that he does not wish to raise any argument in opposition to the application made by the Law Society of the Northern Territory. He accepts that he has acted in an unprofessional manner and that he has been guilty of specific and serious misconduct.
[5] The order of the court will be that the defendant’s name be struck off the Roll of Legal Practitioners and that the defendant pay the plaintiff’s costs of these proceedings.
Nolan is executive producer of Starwalker, a reality show that says it will choose two astronauts to fly into space aboard Russian spacecraft. The show claims to have a $100 million budget that is fully funded by sponsors, but Nolan and his business partner, Greg Smith, are mum about who is providing the money citing non-disclosure agreements.
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