Why Sydney woman stole $3.5m from Commonwealth Bank
A former bank worker who stole $3.5m to pay for a lavish lifestyle has been jailed.
A former Commonwealth Bank employee who ripped off customers to the tune of $3.5m to pay for a lavish lifestyle and appease an abusive ex has been jailed.
Hsin-Yu Tsai, 33, had claimed that she was not motivated by greed when she used her position as a customer service officer to move millions of dollars out of the accounts of unsuspecting clients.
However, a NSW District Court judge ruled that she did reap substantial amounts of money from the scheme and said there was no other option than for her to be jailed.
The court was told that Tsai claimed she was pressured into the offending in order to satisfy her then boyfriend’s desire for expensive watches and clothes.
Judge John Pickering said that according to Tsai, shortly after she moved in with the man, he pressured her to lavish him with material gifts.
Tsai pleaded guilty to three counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and one count of using false documents to gain advantage by deception.
Judge Pickering said aspects of the boyfriend’s behaviour were similar to those of a “domestic predator” and Tsai claimed that he had been violent and abusive.
It was in those circumstances that she began stealing from the bank, the court was told.
She moved $2.4m out of the account of a South African national who lived overseas; however, he did not discover the fraud for another three years.
She also siphoned off money from the term deposit account of another customer and in all stole $3.5m.
She claimed that her then boyfriend was a financial burden on her and had pressured her into buying a $600,000 Ferrari.
“She felt she had to please him and keep him happy because she had no other family to rely on in Sydney. Her parents were overseas and she had been isolated from her friends,” Judge Pickering said.
However, she also used the money for her own gain.
When the relationship ended, they negotiated through lawyers for her to be paid a $1m settlement.
She used the money to travel to Taiwan, China and Europe, bought designer handbags and purchased property.
However, Judge Pickering noted, her offending ceased following the break-up and despite her having the opportunity to continue stealing money over the next three years while she continued to work at the bank.
“Sometimes the proof is in how you live your life after this,” Judge Pickering said.
“ … That needs to be balanced by the fact she made a lot of money including the million dollars she got at the end of her settlement.
“But nevertheless it is a remarkable circumstance that she continued to be employed by the Commonwealth Bank, did not take the opportunity to commit any fraud and placed herself in a completely different life.”
The court was told that with the help of her parents, Tsai had paid back the money she had stolen from the Commonwealth Bank.
Judge Pickering noted she was now working in the health industry, had a young family and had rehabilitated herself.
However, he said there was no other option than to send her to prison considering the amount of money she had stolen.
“It would be an extremely rare scenario where someone who defrauded the bank of $3.5m and was an employee … did not go to jail fulltime,” Judge Pickering said.
Tsai also made full admissions to police and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
She was sentenced to three years and three months in prison, with a 14-month non parole period, meaning she will be eligible for release in December next year.
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