Office manager stole £900k from bosses to fund lavish Halloween party
An office manager stole more than £900,000 from her employers to fund her lavish lifestyle, including spending £40,000 on a on Halloween party.
Emma Hunt was working with Edinburgh property firm McLean Properties when she told tenants to pay their rents into her own bank account for three years.
The 38-year-old, from Coldstream, Berwickshire, used the stolen funds to splash out on luxury holidays, expensive hotels and top of the range cars.
She even spent £40,000 on a Halloween party at the 16th century Fenton Tower castle in East Lothian and paid out £3000 for her birthday party at Musselburgh racecourse.
Hunt also spent thousands of pounds on hospitality packages at the Scottish Open golf tournament and the Scotland v England rugby clash Six Nations clash at Murrayfield Stadium.
She was only found out after a tenant queried the payments they were making and bosses at McLean Properties began an investigation in 2019.
Hunt denied embezzling the cash but was found guilty by a jury when she stood trial over five days at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last year and was sentenced to three years in jail.
She must also pay back a total of £211,574.67 after the confiscation order found Hunt was estimated to have benefited from criminal conduct by £925,000.
Sineidin Corrins, Deputy Procurator Fiscal for serious casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: ‘This confiscation underscores the fact that prosecution of those involved in financial crime does not stop at criminal conviction and sentencing.
‘Even after that conviction was secured, the Crown pursued Proceeds of Crime action to ensure the funds Emma Hunt obtained illegally were confiscated.
‘Confiscation orders have ongoing financial consequences, meaning we can seek to recover further assets from this individual in the future to ensure she pays back the full amount.’
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