Simon Olver, pictured above, 42, started defrauding Credit Industriel et Commercial Bank just under a year into his job
A finance boss has been jailed for more than four years after stealing nearly £3million from his bank before splashing the cash on sports cars, designer watches and lavish holidays.
Simon Olver started defrauding Credit Industriel et Commercial Bank just under a year into his job as head of finance, accounting, reporting and tax by setting up two fake payments to himself worth a total of £2.9m.
The 42-year-old used the diverted funds to buy designer watches, jewellery, upgrade airline flights and put deposits on a McLaren and Aston Martin and sports cars.
When police uncovered the fraud, officers found Olver had also made an offer to buy a house in upmarket Kingswood, Surrey, for £2.6m. Police began investigating Olver last year after the bank where he worked tipped them off that two fraudulent payment requests had been made.
The payment request was supposedly a payment of £479,044 to HMRC to settle an outstanding corporation tax bill for 2017.
But Olver substituted his own bank account details in place of HMRC’s details, and named his account ‘HMRC Cumbernauld’ to make the transaction appear more genuine.
Once the payment had been authorised, Olver then sent the payment request to the settlements team to process it and release the funds.
Two weeks later, Olver submitted another payment request in the same way as the first, worth £2,477,122. Again, it was supposedly being paid to HMRC to settle an outstanding corporation tax bill.
Following these payments, Olver’s bank informed his employer of two very large and suspicious payments into his account, City of London Police said.
At this point, the Fraud Squad was notified, and on the same day officers went to the branch where he worked and arrested him.
The Fraud Squad also discovered Olver had copied his manager’s signature, from the previous two fraudulent payment requests, with the intention of submitting a third worth £1,550,000.
But Olver was arrested by officers the day before it is thought he was planning to submit the payment.
In his interview with detectives, whilst admitting to his actions, Olver claimed he had been under immense stress and was struggling with debts and that his crimes were a way of sorting out his money problems, police said.
At Southwark Crown Court, above, yesterday, Olver, from Surrey, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison after stealing nearly £3million from his bank (file photo)
Before Olver’s fraud was uncovered, he had already spent roughly £238,000 of the stolen funds – mostly on high value luxury goods including watches, jewellery, flights and sports cars.
At Southwark Crown Court yesterday, Olver, from Surrey, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud by abuse of position and one offence of creating articles for use in fraud.
Judge Gregory Perrins told the bank boss: ‘Had you been successful that would have taken the amount to around £4.5m. Although you told the police you were in debt the evidence shows went on an extravagant spending spree.
‘This was a case of significant dishonesty and gross breach of trust, motivated only by pure greed. You made an offer on a house showing the balance on your phone, as if you could pay outright in cash.
‘You had a watch from Harrods, put deposits on both a McClaren and an Aston Martin in the region of £400,000. You bought expensive items of jewellery including a pendant, a £15,000 ring, a £19,000 diamond.
‘When police searched your house found a significant quantity of goods with the labels still attached, this was a mammoth spending spree, there were clothes alone worth £10,000.’
George Payne, defending, said: ‘He wants to publicly apologise to everyone concerned, the job in question as the director was his first management responsibility role.
Olver substituted his bank account details in place of HMRC’s, above, details, and named his account ‘HMRC Cumbernauld’ to make the transaction appear more genuine (file photo)
‘He started that in 2018, a year before offending happened. It was very stressful and no doubt that was well remunerated for that but was responsible solely for a team, a stressful and difficult time in his life.
‘Sadly it leaked into his private life and caused not only stress in marriage and caused him to accrue large amounts of debt.’
Following his jailing, Detective Constable Richard Cole, who led the investigation for the City of London Police’s Fraud Squad, said: ‘Olver betrayed the trust of his employer and used his position to steal nearly £3 million pounds.
‘Despite claiming in his interview that he needed the money for debt payments, it’s evident that he also used it to enjoy a luxury lifestyle, purchasing expensive items such as watches and jewellery.
‘He must now pay the price for his actions, both with the sentence handed down by the court, but also with the loss of his job and reputation.’
Sarah Place of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said Olver used the money he stole for expensive cars, holidays and designer jewellery.
She added: ‘Simon Olver seriously abused his position of trust which impacted on his employers, his colleagues and those close to him. Olver used the money he took to spend lavishly on expensive cars, holidays and designer jewellery.
‘Faced with a wealth of evidence, which showed he had requested the transfer of company money to his own bank account under false pretences, he had to admit his wrongdoing.
‘In addition to the sentence of four and a half years imprisonment imposed on him, the CPS will now take steps to recover the monies fraudulently taken through Mr Olver’s dishonest actions.’