Patrick Kashani avoids jail sentence for ripping off employer to feed lotto addiction
An IT manager used his position to embezzle phones and tablets, sell them on eBay and disperse the funds to himself and his staff, after he decided they weren’t getting paid enough. Here’s how he did it.
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An IT manager sold embezzled mobile phones and tablets on eBay in a scheme to steal from his rich employer, pass funds on to his slightly poorer staff — and feed his $1000-a-week lotto ticket addiction.
Former Prixcar Services IT national manger Patrick Kashani used his position to place bogus orders with Telstra for 59 mobile phones and tablets.
Kashani sold the devices — worth $116,256.56 — on eBay for $65,000.
He also ordered 320 Motorola scanning devices which he initially failed to sell on eBay and at a garage sale.
He enlisted a colleague who eventually sold the scanners on eBay for $6,900.
Kashani gave the colleague some of the money as a wedding present.
He also spent some of it on lunch and dinner for his staff.
Kashani’s “unsophisticated” scheme, which ran between February, 2016 and June, 2017, was “clearly” traced back to him, albeit several months after he was retrenched.
Kashani made full admissions to police but attempted to justify his crimes.
The disgruntled ex-employee claimed his rationale for the scheme was a perception he wasn’t adequately paid for extra work.
Kashani also claimed he had asked Prixcar Services to pay he and his staff extra money.
Prixcar Services, a national transport company with locations in Altona North and Port Melbourne, denied underpaying staff.
Kashani, 49, was sentenced in the County Court on October 11 to a two-year community corrections order after pleading guilty to two charges of theft.
The court heard Kashani had experienced “very considerable” financial and personal stress.
It was also tendered Kashani was spending “extreme amounts” on lottery tickets — approximately $1000 per week.
The Western suburbs father also claimed he was under pressure to meet mortgage repayments but had not told his wife.
He was also “drinking excessively”.
Judge Susan Cohen was not satisfied Kashani’s motivation was greed.
“If you were indeed gambling through lottery tickets to the extent described, there may well have been short-term financial need but, in my view, that is not the type or extent of need that sometimes ameliorates culpability if it motivated such offending,” she said.
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“There may have been an element of hubris in your thinking, given your long-term involvement and views about how things had been run in the past and perhaps should be under a new CEO, but I am not able to reach a finding on that issue either.”
However, Judge Cohen took into account Kashani had no prior criminal history, his stable family support and he is in full-time ongoing employment.
Kashani was convicted of one charge of theft and ordered to perform 150 hours of community work.