Jailed ex-HSBC manager handed £73k time bomb

Jailed ex-HSBC manager handed £73k time bomb




A former-HSBC bank manager has been punished after stealing thousands from clients… .

An ex-HSBC bank manager has been ordered to repay a substantial sum after stealing thousands from clients.

On the 29th January, Sarah Gibbs, 33, of Ontario Gardens, Worthing, who worked for HSBC since 1999 was given a Confiscation Order of £73,120 at Brighton Crown Court. She will face a further year in prison if this is not paid within six months.

Detective Inspector Gill Sole of the Sussex Police Economic Crime Unit said they have ensured she does not benefit from her crime.

"Whenever someone has profited from their crime we will pursue them to recover those proceeds, firstly to ensure that victims are compensated, and secondly to ensure that the criminal will not continue to enjoy the benefit of their criminality," said DI Sole.

In May 2014, Mrs Gibbs pleaded guilty to false accounting and theft by employee to the value of £275,400.81 and was sentenced to 42 months imprisonment.

The financial investigators analysed over 50 accounts managed by Gibbs to find she had used the stolen money amongst her own earnings to place a £23,000 deposit on a house, as well as thousands of pounds contributing to deposits on new cars and £35,000 on the care and stabling of a pony.  

The Confiscation Order follows a financial investigation which uncovered that she had available assets totalling at £73,120, the total amount will be paid to HSBC in compensation.

Gibbs was a branch manager for numerous HSBC branches in Sussex, from April 2005 to April 2011.

An internal audit highlighted irregularities in banking records at branches: Goring-by-Sea, Shoreham-by-Sea and Hove. This audit conducted by HSBC was prompted by a customer query in 2011 enquiring about the progress of investments allegedly made by Mrs Gibbs on their behalf.

In actual fact the funds had not been invested, but obtained by Mrs Gibbs and put to personal use.

Accounts accessed by Mrs Gibbs included several elderly people as well as her own friends.

HSBC has already repaid any funds accounts holders may have lost, including interest. The bank has also managed to retrieve her staff pension in civil proceedings.

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