Cashier jailed after stealing office money from international law firm
A cashier at a leading international law firm has been banned from the profession and served a jail sentence after stealing over £700,000.
Juliette Holland, 46, was found to have misappropriated at least £727,597 of office money between March 2013 and October 2015 while working at Ince & Co.
Sentenced
The Met Police confirmed Ms Holland had pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to three years and four months in jail at Basildon Crown Court on Tuesday. She has also been made the subject of a Section 43 order, which effectively bars her from working for any regulated solicitors’ firm.
Exchanging foreign currency
Ms Holland committed the fraud by ordering foreign currency using the firm’s in-house exchange service, which she would then take to a local foreign exchange and transfer back into sterling. She made 349 separate foreign currency orders before the fraud was discovered by another Ince & Co employee.
No losses to clients
The Solicitors Regulation Authority said Ince & Co has been able to recover less than 1 per cent of the sum misappropriated, thought the firm said in a statement to the Law Society Gazette that the incident had not related in any losses to the its clients.
Source: Global Legal Post
