Paying back all the money spent

Online casino 32Red has paid back almost ￡600,000 ($775,000) to a company in Belfast, Northern Ireland after a woman admitted to stealing funds from her employer to spend playing on the site.

Tracey Curran, from Moyola Drive in the Shantallow area of Derry, pleaded guilty last month to six counts of fraud by false representation. She had used S3 Alliance’s company credit cards to withdraw ￡590,000 ($762,000) between January 2016 and April 2017.

Credit cards used

Curran, who wept as the charges were read out, had used the company’s Bank of Ireland and American Express cards to take out the money.

Curran had spent the whole sum gambling online at 32Red

At the Londonderry Crown Court hearing yesterday, Judge Philip Babington learned that Curran had spent the whole sum gambling online at 32Red, which is owned by the Kindred Group and based in Gibraltar.

According to a barrister from the Public Prosecution Service, “the vast amount of money had been reimbursed as a gratuity” by 32Red.

Accountants used to trace money

Accountants had already been engaged by the defense counsel to find out where all the money had gone exactly. At the hearing, the attorney told the judge,

She obtained all of the money through fraud and the money has all been lost to the gambling site.”

Further information has since been submitted to the UK Gambling Commission to verify the findings. The accountants have been asked to confirm that the full amount has been returned to the defendant’s company.

Curran has now been released on bail and will reappear in court for a plea hearing on December 20. S3 Alliance has yet to release a statement on the matter.