Matthew Round: Manager of high-end Warriewood lighting firm ripped it off for $92,000

The boss of a high-end Sydney lighting architecture business ripped it off for more than $92,000. A court has heard how he funnelled the cash into his own bank account.

Matthew Round, 35, of Clarendon Vale in Tasmania, outside Manly Local Court on Wednesday, where he pleaded guilty to one count of embezzle as clerk or servant for stealing more than $92,000 from his former employer, a lighting company at Warriewood. Picture: Manly Daily

A trusted senior employee who ripped off more than $92,000 from a high-end northern beaches’ lighting business has appeared in Manly Court.

Matthew Round, who was hired by LA Lounge Lighting Architects as general manager at its Warriewood head office, fiddled with 31 customer invoices to channel cash into his own bank account.

Round, 35, who now lives in Hobart, took the money over a two-year period beginning in April 2021, the court was told on Wednesday.

He managed to siphon off a total of $92,025 by altering the LA Lounge bank account numbers on the invoices to match an account he had opened with the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd.

In a facts sheet tendered to court, the police detailed that 31 separate amounts, ranging from $215 to $8362, were “fraudulently embezzled” from the firm that specialises in the design, supply and installation of “lighting architecture”.

Matthew Round, 35, outside Manly Local Court on Wednesday. The court heard that he had altered 31 customer invoices. Picture: Manly Daily

Round, who grew up in Tasmania and moved back to Hobart two years ago, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement by a clerk or servant.

He was responsible for managing the day to day operations at the firm’s Warriewood office, according to the facts sheet.

The location of LA Lounge Lighting Architects in Warriewood, where Matthew Round was general manager. Picture: Google Maps

His duties included managing invoices and sending them to clients. Round was then required to monitor the invoices “to make sure they were paid” before processing them.

But he “fraudulently altered” the invoices by changing the correct bank account details to a “private account he opened in his own name”, the facts sheet stated.

The owner of LA Lounge became aware of the thefts after she saw an error on an invoice that charged a customer 50 per Cent more than first quoted.

Rounds’ lawyer told Magistrate Daniel Reiss that his client had written a letter of apology to the court.

“He was having financial problems,” the solicitor said.

“Quite simply, he was put in a desperate situation.”

Mr Reiss adjourned the matter for sentence in Manly court on June 25.