An accountant has admitted stealing staggering sums of money from a dead man before a whistleblower exposed his crimes.
A Melbourne accountant stole hundreds of thousands from a dead client through his position as executor.
Michael Carley’s client Kenneth John Butler wanted to share his estate with eight people after he was gone, but instead Carley used his position to steal the money for himself.
The 68-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of theft and one of the false accounts in the County Court of Victoria on Tuesday.
Mr. Butler appointed Carley, his accountant, on a power of attorney while he was sick, and made Carley executor.
After Mr. Butler’s death in 2003, Carley transferred $ 403,685 from Mr. Butler’s money to his own bank accounts and produced false financial statements to cover it up.
He stole the money in small amounts over eight years, from 2010 to 2018, before a former whistleblower alerted the authorities.
Carley told investigating attorneys in 2018 he needed the money to run his business, a police summary of the offending shows.
He claimed he hadn’t done the wrong thing.
He told lawyers that he had “paid it back” and was only owed $ 50,000, but that it was wrong, according to police documents.
He owned the accounting firm Carley Advisory in Frankston while stealing from his dead client.
Carley is next out on October 19th.
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