Private Sector

Banking insiders working with an organised crime group have been sentenced on charges of stealing up to £1 million from customer accounts.

https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/43235/bank-staff-receive-jail-terms-over-1-million-fraud

A customer service advisor who stole almost £70,000 from her employer and sent it to seven others in order to launder the proceeds from her crime has been sentenced.

Gina Rani used her position at E.ON to facilitate a series of refunds that she paid to family members and friends who in return refunded some of the money to her.

An Audi-loving financial controller stole more than £3m from his employer - and profited from Covid bounce-back loans.

Rhys Jackson - who owned seven of the high-end cars at one point - caused his firm to go into administration, costing dozens of jobs, a court heard.

An admin assistant who embezzled more than £1.5 million from her Aberdeen employer was jailed last month for three years and four months.

Coleen Muirhead worked for metal recycling company Panda Rosa Metals, from 2015-2021 and stole the money by creating fake transactions to a non-existent client named G Anderson. She spent the money on lavish holidays, cars, caravans, her son's wedding, and savings accounts for her grandchildren.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/watch-out-for-the-red-flags-that-indicate-insider-fraud-tom-stocker-4377774

An Essex company director has been jailed after being part of a fraud scheme where fake invoices worth £1million were submitted to suppliers. Paul Fitzsimmons, 49, of Royal Drive, Leicester, held the role of facilities and services manager at US law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton LLP since the late 1990s.

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/men-used-fake-invoices-company-8833294

The former chief financial officer at collapsed bakery chain Patisserie Valerie has denied fraud as he appeared in court alongside his wife for the first time.

Christopher Marsh, 49, Louise Marsh, 55, Pritesh Mistry, 41, and Nileshkumar Lad, 50, are all accused of defrauding the company’s shareholders and creditors between October 2015 and October 2018.

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/ex-patisserie-valerie-finance-chief-095230544.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr

Former Co-op Bank boss Paul Flowers has appeared in court accused of a £196,000 fraud by abusing his position.

Flowers, 73, made his first court appearance after two earlier hearings were aborted when his lawyers told the court he had recently suffered a stroke and could not attend.

https://www.cityam.com/former-co-op-bank-boss-appears-in-court-accused-of-196000-fraud-1/

A corrupt NatWest employee who helped a gang of fraudsters steal more than £1mn from wealthy bank customers was jailed for five and a half years.

Said Hussain, 34, accessed 30 overseas victims' accounts and passed their details to members of an organised crime group while based at the East Ham branch in east London.

With the fines for employing illegal workers in the UK tripling, employment screening and identity expert, Sterling, has urged firms to ensure they have robust vetting and screening in place, no matter what sector they operate in.

https://londonlovesbusiness.com/fines-to-increase-for-employers-without-robust-employment-screening/

Car dealer Pendragon is currently facing a £260m lawsuit in the High Court.

The lawsuit alleges that one of Pendragon’s subsidiaries engaged in fraud and contract breaches by directly selling new software to dealerships in Asia and the Pacific, a product that they were supposed to market through an agreement with Pinewood AP Ltd, a marketing company.