No Jail for $150,000 Fraud by CEO

Our client was the CEO of a large multi-national company. It was alleged that in the course of her role she had misappropriated over $350,000 from the company and transferred it to her own accounts.

The offending was alleged to have occurred over 18 months until she was eventually caught. At this stage the company confronted her about the fraudulent transactions. As she had not obtained legal advice, she made full admissions to the offending.

The company terminated her employment and referred the matter to Police. Following a lengthy investigations, our client was charged with a number of offences of ‘Dishonestly Obtain Financial Advantage by Deception‘ amounting to approximately $350,000.

She came to us distraught at the prospect of a jail sentence, having spoken to a number of other law firms who had advised her that jail was inevitable.

We assessed the case and found that some of the charges against her could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt. We immediately got to work preparing representations to withdraw a number of the charges.

Following protracted negotiations with the prosecution, we were able to have a number of charges dismissed. We ultimately pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud amounting to just over $150,000.

We then began preparing our client’s subjective case. A detailed psychiatrist report was prepared which set out that our client was suffering from Bipolar disorder at the time of the offences which contributed to the offences.

We also obtained character references which set out that our client had contributed strongly to the community and various charities. She also had two young children who relied on her to care for them. Significantly, we were also able to arrange for repayment of the amount taken.

The case proceeded to sentence at Downing Centre District Court where we made lengthy submissions as to why full-time imprisonment was not an appropriate outcome. Ultimately the Magistrate agreed with our submissions and sentenced our client to an Intensive Corrections Order, allowing her to remain in the community.