Case Study
Employee Fraud - United Kingdom
A large public company, suspected one of its senior staff had embezzled half a million pounds from the company. However, after undertaking a speedy but thorough investigation, the theft proved to be much larger than first thought.
After calling in the experts, it was decided that a covert investigation was required to establish the extent of the fraud and to see if anyone else was involved. This was swiftly undertaken; company records were secured and key witnesses interviewed. Subsequent analysis of the accounts and interrogation of the employee’s work computer and emails revealed that the employee had been defrauding the company for several years and the total amount stolen was nearly three and a half million pounds.
Further internal and external investigations established that the employee had used the proceeds to fund an extravagant lifestyle including a holiday home in Spain, a garage full of expensive cars, valuable jewellery, and trips to Disneyland for family and friends.
The evidence gathered was passed to the company’s lawyers who were able to quickly obtain freezing orders over the employee's assets and bank accounts, including the property and cars that had been purchased with the stolen money. Eventually the company was able to recover most of the money that had been stolen.
Although, the company's management had been inattentive in allowing the theft to happen in the first, once the fraud had been discovered, they took swift and decisive action, retaining suitably qualified lawyers and an experienced investigation team, which resulted in a successful outcome.