TSB fraud department boss embezzled £87,000 to fund gambling and cocaine habit

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A TSB fraud department boss embezzled £87,000 from his employers to fund his gambling and cocaine addictions. Benjamin Hannington, an assistant manager at the bank, transferred large sums to himself under the guise of them being customer refunds.Using inside knowledge obtained through his role, he abused his trusted position for 21 months before a colleague discovered what he was up to.

The 42-year-old pled guilty to fraud by false representation and was sentenced to two years suspended for two years with a drug rehabilitation requirement at Newcastle Crown Court..He also faces proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act to try to claw back his ill-gotten gains.

The court heard Hannington was gambling around the clock fuelled by cocaine, Chronicle Live reports. The court heard he had worked for TSB since 2007 and had reached the position of assistant manager in the fraud operations department, where his role was primarily to arrange refunds to customers' bank accounts.

But between October 2020 and July 22, in Gateshead, he made 19 payments to two personal accounts belonging to himself, totalling £87,750.Neil Jones, prosecuting, said: "The technique used was he would email those in his department and seek refund payments for individual named recipients."The payments came into his bank account and on some occasions the email trail made it look as though he had requested authorisation from a senior manager but in fact that was bogus and he was sending emails to himself."Given his position in the fraud prevention department he was in a unique position to authorise himself.