An accountant stole more than $2 million by falsifying tax invoices to feed his “overwhelming” gambling habit that saw him place up to 100 bets on a racing and sports app every day.
Jason Richard Poser, 35, appeared in the Adelaide District Court on Friday for a sentencing hearing for stealing money from 85 separate superannuation funds between 2020 and 2022 while working for chartered accountants SuperGuardian.
He pleaded guilty to 34 counts of robbery.
Prosecutor Frank Niemann told the court Poser stole amounts of $317,000 and $400,000 from Davco Nominees.
Poser told victims, who trusted SuperGuardian to manage their self-managed superannuation funds, that the sums were owed to the Australian Taxation Office.
“After that happened, he went to the ATO website or logged into each of the accounts, changed the refund details and refunded the money to himself,” Niemann said, according to the report. Adelaide Advertiser.
‘The amounts stolen come from self-managed pension funds, which is money that one would assume is intended for the victims to retire comfortably.’
Poser also robbed one client to pay another, the court heard.
Jason Richard Poser, 35, pleaded guilty to stealing more than $2 million from his accounting clients.
In an apology letter Poser read in court, he said he was truly sorry for his actions.
“The financial aspect was damaging enough, but the shock, anger and disappointment of being betrayed by someone you had every right to trust and who should have had your best interests in mind,” he said.
Poser said he was acting from a place of desperation and sadness.
He also acknowledged that he had damaged SuperGuardian’s reputation.
In arguing for a house arrest sentence, Poser’s attorney Michael Woods said that while his client had previously suffered from “an all-consuming addiction,” he had been off gambling for nearly two years.
Mr Woods said Poser was recorded as having placed 16,638 bets on Sportsbet in 2020, which then rose to 24,037 in 2021 and 26,492 in 2022.
Power placed up to 100 bets a day with the stolen funds using a sports and racing betting app
“It’s like 80 or 100 bets a day. He can’t stop,” Woods said.
Mr Woods said Poser had worked at SuperGuardian since before he turned 18 and had worked his way up to become a manager.
“He’s lost his career, he’s embarrassed, he’s uncomfortable, his future is in jeopardy,” Woods said.
“He has lost the trust of those he respected in his workplace and others; he has lost his self-respect.”
In the grip of his addiction, Poser continued to steal even though he knew one day he would receive a “crappy phone that someone would notice.”
“He was always going to fall down and he was always going to end up showing the paper trail,” Woods told the court.
According to his lawyer, Poser had no chance of repaying the stolen sums.
Poser will be sentenced next month.