A 38-year-old accountant from Melbourne has been sentenced to six years in prison over a total of 239 fraudulent transactions that involved several popular musicians and restaurateurs in Australia.
Over $2 Million Transferred From Clients’ Accounts
The accountant was a partner and business manager at White Sky when he started transferring money that should have reached his clients’ bank accounts into his own account.
The accountant took over $2 million from some of the country’s most iconic artists, including Angus and Julia Stone, Peking Duk, and Gotye, along with the owners of Melbourne-based restaurants Mr Miyagi and The Meatball and Wine Bar.
According to the information presented in court, some of the restaurant owners who were affected by the fraudulent transactions were forced to sell their businesses and homes.
Wouter “Wally” De Backer, better known under his stage name Gotye, and for his hit single “Somebody That I Used to Know” stated that the accountant had brought a lot of personal stress in his life.
Gotye added that he forgave the accountant and that he hopes “he can find more interesting and productive things to do in the future,” according to his court statement.
He Betrayed the Victims’ Trust
County court judge George Georgiou was the one who sentenced the Melbourne accountant on Wednesday.
The judge argued that the accountant had betrayed his victims’ trust. “You were defrauding them of their money while purporting to be their friend,” Georgiou argued.
While acknowledging the accountant’s reasoning behind committing the crimes in relation to his need to fuel his gambling addiction, Georgiou did not consider it a valid excuse.
The judge told the sentenced accountant that he had “ample opportunity” to reflect on the wrongfulness of his acts and ask for professional help but chose not to do it.
The accountant will be eligible for parole after three years and nine months.
Between 2011 and 2022, the accountant made at least 337 false documents that facilitated his fraudulent transactions, according to the court hearing.
The fact that his senior role in the firm only required his signature for authorizing the documents simplified the procedures that helped him take $2,166,036.29 in total in over a decade.
Last December, it was revealed that a former Jaguars employee who allegedly took $22 million from the team’s virtual credit card program suffered from gambling addiction.