Bank worker Amy Olding, 33, from Bromley, London, has been spared jail after trying to scam global banking firm Investec out of bogus headhunting fees
A bank worker who tried to fleece her employers out of more than £30,000 and blamed her ‘corrosive’ relationship with her stripper wife for the crime has been spared jail.
Amy Olding, 33, was said to have teamed up with Camilla Forrest, 32, to scam global banking firm Investec out of bogus headhunting fees.
Olding, who worked for Investec’s HR team, tried to pocket £33,480 by submitting fake invoices to her own department.
She admitted the scam but was cleared after prosecutors offered no evidence.
Forrest, who performed at the City of London gentlemen’s club For Your Eyes Only, was accused of setting up a recruitment firm called City Search Partner and using the company to invoice Olding for bogus recruitment services.
However the prosecution offered no evidence against Forrest, who also works as a flight attendant for Virgin Atlantic, at Southwark Crown Court earlier this year and she was cleared.
Explaining the fraud, prosecutor James Murray-Smith said: ‘It was the setting up of a company which submitted invoices for recruitment work that was not carried out.
‘There were four invoices totaling £33,000, or thereabouts, over the course of a month.
‘The invoices did not reflect work done - in fact these staff members were recruited directly by Investec.
Camilla Forrest (left) and Amy Olding (right) tried to pocket £33,480 by submitting fake invoices to Investec
‘At all times Ms Olding has admitted, both to her employers and the police, this fraudulent conduct.
‘Ms Olding offered to repay the money as soon as Investec contacted her about these invoices.’
The court heard Investec was able to freeze the money before it made its way to the City
