A car salesman has been caught carrying out a scam to the tune of £100,000, including stealing £40,149 from the dealership he worked at. Richard Powell, 46, had previously been fired from another dealership due to “financial irregularities”, it appears this time he wasn’t so cautious in covering his tracks.
Gloucester Crown Court was told how Mr Powell had previously borrowed money from two employees at Bayliss Vauxhall car dealership in Gloucester, telling them that the business needed the money or it would go bust. His co-workers believed Mr Powell and stumped up the cash however they never had any of it returned to them. The truth was that Mr Powell was intended to use the borrowed money to pay back money he had stolen from the dealership. Kind of like stealing money to pay back stolen money.
The two employees had feared for their own employment and believed the funds would keep the business afloat. To acquire the funds they maxed out their credit cards and one of the people being defrauded, Mr Peters, even borrowed £3,795 from his father. When Mr Peters went to senior management the scam was brought to light and Mr Powell made a quick departure from the company.
His recent foray into crime came as he pocketed £40,149 from Renault Hylton. It appears stealing from one car dealer wasn’t enough for Mr Powell and he had to apply his defrauding skills elsewhere. Over the course of a year it was found he had been stealing customers deposits and cooking the books to hide the scam. The most extravagant practice he undertook was selling a car and pocketing the entire price of the car. It is amazing how the car could go unaccounted for and nobody raised any eyebrows prior to the investigation.
Renault Hylton alerted the police when they noticed irregularities in their financial statements and unaccounted deposits. A police investigation found the entire scam netted £107,403. Of which Mr Powell had no problem squandering the entire sum.
Mr Powell used to money to fund his two daughters expensive educations as well as affording him a lifestyle well beyond his means. Mr Powell’s illegal dealings had cost him his wife and two years and eight months in prison. The Judge has placed a confiscation order against him, forcing him to pay back the money he stole.
This case goes to show business owners in the motor trade industry need to maintain a vigilant watch over their employees and make sure they have proper business insurance against their staff stealing from them.
