London Man Gets Jail After Embezzling Charity’s Funds to Gamble

After being found guilty of embezzling more than £200,000 ($271,200) from a charity he was meant to support, a man from London will now be shipped off to prison. According to My London News, Manjinder Virdi, 37, was working as a financial officer for the unnamed charity and siphoned off the funds into his personal bank accounts over the period of 20 months to fund his gambling habit. He didn’t do a good job covering his tracks, as he was busted when paper trails showed deposits directly to his bank account.

Jailtime for Misguided Money Manager

The media outlet reports that, after the VP of the charity became aware that Virdi was receiving payments from company accounts, the police were alerted. Additionally, after another staff member received an email about suspicious activity in their accounts, the charity was made aware of the fraud. Virdi had access to the PayPal and bank accounts of the charity so was asked to investigate the suspicious activity.

Initially, he claimed the email was a scam. Later, he said that there had been fraudulent activity and that the bank would contact the customer with further details.

Virdi was immediately reported to police after it was found that he was transferring money to himself through several transactions. Virdi was arrested and released shortly thereafter. However, an investigation revealed that he had deposited thousands into online gambling sites.

Virdi was convicted of fraud by abuse of position under the Fraud Act 2006. This past Monday, Virdi was sentenced to three years imprisonment by a judge.

Another Embezzler Gets Off Light

While Virdi will be able to contemplate his missteps behind bars for the next few years, another embezzling charity worker has avoided jail. Owen Collins began stealing from Cat Haven, a charity he helped establish, according to The Irish Sun.

Collins pleaded guilty to stealing €27,500 ($31,000) from Cat Haven. Hannah Cahill, a defense attorney, stated that her client found “great solace” in helping kittens and cats. It also helped him deal with the grief of losing his sister, father and mother to tragic circumstances.

However, with money coming in, he wasn’t content in using it for its designated purpose. His gambling addiction led to him stealing from his charity between June 2017 and March 2019, to gamble online at Bet365.

In appearing before the judge, Collins admitted his guilt. He stated that he would enter a guilty plea as soon as possible. Since then, he has paid all of the money he had stolen. The money will go to the Cork animal welfare charities, as Cat Haven is no longer operational.

Because he made restitution and proved to the court that he was remorseful, Collins avoided being locked up when he appeared for sentencing earlier this month.