A financial controller transferred himself £6.7 million from the cash reserves of the company he worked for to ‘secure the financial security of his wife and children’, despite already earning more than £80,000 per year.
James Hall, 49, then lost most of the money gambling on the FTSE 100 index, Bolton Crown Court heard. Hall, of Bolton, had worked for Merseyside-based shopfitting business Vale UK since 1996 and had become good friends with the managing director Paul Henerty, prosecution barrister Fiona McNeill told the court.
Mr Henerty described Hall as a “great asset to the company”, said he “trusted him implicitly”, and had even planned on making him a director. When the business moved to electronic banking in 2007, Hall was authorised to pay bills and make transfers online. He was also responsible for authorising the company’s expenses.
