Jersey’s Royal Court Superior Number, which convenes only for the most serious cases, has imprisoned a former employee of the collapsed Belgravia Financial Services Group in a case that has been ongoing for over a decade.
Russell King was sentenced to six years in prison after stealing £670,000 ($867,130; €773,177) from the firm in an act of “pure greed” the judge said.
Most of the money was hidden in a complex set of accounts in Switzerland.
Dodging justice
Ten years ago, King fled to Bahrain to avoid facing prosecution, but was extradited from the country last summer to face charges on the channel island.
He pleaded guilty in the Jersey court to five counts of fraudulently converting £740,286 belonging to others, local paper Jersey Evening Post reported.
The crown prosecutor said King exploited his business partner’s death to “help himself to hundreds of thousands of pounds”.
“He was able to cynically exploit the death of the only person who in reality would have been able to challenge his conduct and stand up to him.”
Additionally, King manipulated a Belgravia employee to transfer the company’s money into his personal account.
In court, his former assistant described him as a “workplace bully”.
Bankrupting a firm
According to the prosecution, King had taken out so much money, that when Belgravia went into liquidation, the administrators were left with only £64,000 in the firm’s accounts.
As a result, the liquidators were only able to pay creditors 4 pence for every £1 they were owed.
“King had no excuses for his actions,” the prosecution added. “This was not a case of an overworked director in financial extremis who succumbed to a moment of foolish temptation.
“These offences were gratuitous and committed out of pure greed by a man who had already spent some years living the high life at Belgravia’s expense.
“The effect on Belgravia’s creditors in terms of what percentage they could be repaid was considerable.”
King was not the only one involved in the case, with two other former Belgravia employees, Paul Barber and Simon Bailey, also facing charges for fraud and forgery.
