A manager of a “shallow” bank in Melbourne stole millions of dollars from customers and spent money on Porsche cars and dozens of luxury watches.
Former Melbourne Bank Director Andy Lee stole $ 4.2 million from customers using fake time deposit accounts between 2015 and 2019.
“The more admiration you received from others, the more immersed you became in the lifestyle that I adopted,” said Francis Hogan, a Victoria County Court judge, Friday.
She said the 39-year-old lived a “shallow life” with a burning desire to appear successfully to those around him.
Lee used fake time deposits to trick clients into believing they were safely investing, but instead funneled funds to accounts controlled by him and his colleagues, including his ex-wife and sister.
He returned some money to clients’ accounts in order to trick them into believing their money was piling up interest.
But the stolen money went to buy two Porsche cars worth $ 300,000 – he kept one for himself and gave the other to his girlfriend – while another $ 377,000 was used to buy 26 “rare” luxury watches that helped boost Lee’s image with those around him.
Lee later told a mental health professional that he was happy to uncover the truth.
He said, “I don’t care if I lose everything.”
His lawyers told the court that he regretted, pleading guilty early and that his disenfranchised background was partly the motivation for his crimes.
Judge Hogan said it was an “amazing fall from grace” to a former bank manager who started volunteering at Ronald McDonald House.
The judge said, “I was driven by an insatiable need to look successful and look rich.”
The infamous bank manager pleaded guilty to three counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
He was imprisoned for seven years and eight months but would be eligible for parole after serving three years and ten months.
