A HIGH-flying banker who was jailed for two years after embezzling almost £400,000 from Morgan Stanley has been ordered to repay only £1.
A court heard George Kalmar blew the cash on a lavish lifestyle including drugs and prostitutes
Kalmar, 39, had junior employees transfer money between accounts from September 2012 until February 2013 and pocketed the cash.
He blew the money on "adult" entertainment, as well as prostitutes in London and overseas.
He also visited top restaurants, including Nobu Berkley and Tower Bar and Brasserie in London and the Savoy Hotel.
As the Vice President of the European Settlement department Kalmar knew how the bank procedures worked - having an "encyclopaedic knowledge".
But suspicion was aroused when it was spotted that sizeable amounts had been transferred between accounts and large single payments of up to and over £70,000 were made to a number of bars and restaurants.
Two employees were sacked and two resigned after Kalmar's crime came to light.
After investigations, Kalmar was brought in from his holidays and admitted everything.
Represented by John Scott QC, Kalmar, from Grovepark Street, Glasgow, pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to embezzling £387,891 and 23,500 euros by transferring money to dormant accounts then transferring it to personal and other accounts.
Passing sentence sheriff John Baird told him: "Obviously the only appropriate sentence for this matter is custodial."
Kalmar gave instructions to junior staff to make payments into dormant accounts which was later transferred into his personal accounts or to accounts of associates.
At the court, Kalmar was ordered to repay £1.
Ordering him to pay a nominal amount means if any money or assets are uncovered by the Crown, the court can be asked to recalculate the confiscation order.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article