Navishta Desilva claims he felt trapped by "hype and expectation" after promising to bring high-profile international cricketers across to play in a suburban Melbourne competition.
When he could not secure investors to pay for the players, who included West Indies' veteran batsman Chris Gayle, he turned to crime to raise funds for the Twilight T20 cricket series.
Over 16 months, the part-time DJ stole more than $240,000 from Omnivision, his then-employer where he worked as a warehouse assistant.
But Desilva avoided prison over the fraud on Monday, after a judge found he was remorseful and handed him a community work order.
"What comes through is that you are desperate to avoid a jail sentence," County Court Judge David Brookes said.
After working in a number of jobs, Desilva developed a passion for events and went to work at Live Nation as a promoter.
He then decided to set up his own cricket promotion business, Global Talent Entertainment, and planned to host an international Twilight T20 series at Dandenong in Melbourne's southeast.
When he struggled to find enough investment for the event, he started stealing from his employer by falsifying invoices to inflate prices and directed the funds to his own bank account.
Between March 2021 and July last year, he stole $241,439.75, which equated to a loss of $189,125 to his employer after some of the purchase orders were not fulfilled.
He used the stolen money to pay cricket players - including Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan and Lahiru Thirimanne - more than $70,000.
The competition went ahead but was cancelled on the second day after Desilva was charged.
He pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining financial advantage and has since paid Omnivision back the stolen money, after his family helped him.
The 36-year-old is now working two jobs to pay his relatives back.
Desilva told a psychologist he felt pressured to raise the money because "so many people were relying on me to make it happen".
"I was under a lot of pressure and I didn't want to let anyone down," he said.
Judge Brookes said Desilva "felt trapped by the promises you had made and the hype and expectation that publicity of these events had gathered".
"Once you had failed to secure the sponsorship funding ... you resorting to the offending to secure the required money," he said.
Desilva also admitted using some of the money on luxury holidays and designer clothing.
He walked free from court after being handed a three-year community corrections order with a requirement to perform 200 hours of unpaid work.
