Shonky Bank of Melbourne manager Andi Lee pleads guilty to stealing $4.2m from Westpac
A Doncaster bank branch manager who stole from customers — including one who left work to care for his elderly mother — owned 26 luxury watches, paid $280,000 for two Porsches and spent a stack of cash on travel and gifts for his girlfriend.
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A thieving bank manager stole $4.2 million via a sophisticated racket to fund a lavish lifestyle of fast cars, expensive watches, travel, gambling, and business and property deals.
Andi Lee, 39, pleaded guilty in the County Court on Thursday to three charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.
Lee was the Bank of Melbourne’s Doncaster branch manager when he committed his fraud between August 2015 and April 2019.
The slick moneyman created bogus term deposit accounts to dupe several customers and the Westpac Bank.
Lee, of Doncaster, preyed on two married couples — one of which were guests at his wedding — and a customer who left work to care for his elderly mother.
The fraudster offered his victims bogus term deposit deals that returned 5 per cent per annum.
Lee repaid his victims some money as a ruse to show their accounts were active and still accruing interest.
In reality, Lee had transferred their cash to a bogus bank account he controlled and other accounts held by his associates.
The court heard Lee funnelled $3.8 million to accounts including those held by his sister, his ex-wife, his girlfriend and a business partner.
The balance went directly to Lee.
However, Lee still got a slice of the pie through business deals and gifts.
His girlfriend paid almost $300,000 for 26 luxury watches – including Rolexes, Cartiers and Diors – and which she gave to Lee.
Lee was also generous, he bought two Porsches for $280,000 — including a 2018 model for $150,000 — and gave one to his girlfriend.
Lee also gambled his riches, paid for travel and fine dining and lavished his girlfriend with a “wide range of expensive items”.
Lee rents his sister’s plush Hepburn Rd apartment, which was secured with a $51,000 deposit paid with stolen cash, the court heard.
Lee, a dad, also made mortgage payments for the Doncaster East home owned by his ex-wife.
The court heard Lee gave almost $1.4 million to a business partner.
Lee also invested in a Footscray Japanese restaurant Hanzo Bābekyū with the partner.
This business partner also gave $687,000 to his mum labelled as “loan from Andrew”.
Westpac — of which Bank of Melbourne is a subsidiary — has launched legal action to recoup some of the stolen money.
Lee’s life in the fast lane ended when he was nabbed by police in December last year.
Investigators seized evidence including electronic devices, records and a post-it note with passwords and logins for a bogus bank account.
Lee was sacked from his $98,000 a year bank job and now drives shuttle buses for Ronald McDonald House.
The court heard Lee, who now relies on his mum for financial assistance, came from a “disadvantaged financial background” which made him want to live the “high life”.
Barrister Peter Morrissey SC, for Lee, said his client “no longer wants to be a high-flyer”.
“He was posing as ‘Mr Successful’,” Mr Morrissey said.
“That was his game.”
Mr Morrissey said some of the other parties who received money “may have been conned” by Lee.
Judge Frances Hogan said Lee’s “egregious and shallow” offending was “unpalatable”.
She also questioned how Lee had funded and will continue to fund “very expensive” psychological treatment and legal representation.
Mr Morrissey said Lee’s unemployed partner — who owns a Sydney home worth more a $1 million — had paid his legal fees.
Prosecutor Matt Cookson said Lee used his role to conduct the fraud.
“He was a bank manager, he knows the system, he knows the anti-laundering methods,” Mr Cookson said.
Lee commenced working for Westpac in 2010 before becoming branch manager of Bank of Melbourne’s Box Hill branch in 2012.
Lee, who attended an “elite” Christian Brothers high school, shifted to his Doncaster role in 2014.
Judge Hogan, who said it was a “given” Lee would be locked up, extended his bail until sentencing on September 11.
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