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Gambling Addict Accountant Who Expensed Fake Uber Receipts Thought He Could Pull a Fast One on Deloitte

A former Deloitte accountant in the U.K. pulled a Houdini and somehow escaped prison time after he tried to screw the firm out of £95,540 ($121,202) by expensing bogus ride-share receipts over a three-year period to fund a secret gambling addiction.

Gurgyan Singh Kaley pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud by abuse of position. But a judge on June 10 gave Kaley a two-year suspended prison sentence and ordered him to pay back £75,000 to Deloitte, according to the Evening Standard in London.

He was also ordered to complete 300 hours of community service and attend 10 days of rehab.

Kaley, 29, forged and duplicated receipts for more than 1,000 made-up Uber rides over the course of three years while working for Deloitte’s real estate tax team. Prosecutor Peter Lancaster told the court that Kaley’s expense claims went through largely unchecked because “Deloitte relies on the honesty of their employees.” HA! That was pretty stupid on Deloitte’s part!

According to Accountancy Daily, Kaley worked at Deloitte from May 2015 until September 2018, when the expense fraud was uncovered. Deloitte human resources noticed an “unusually high volume of taxi claims” from Kaley, including £28,000 worth of ride-share claims in seven weeks, the Evening Standard reported.

The firm also discovered that Kaley submitted nine duplicate claims for subscriptions to the Institute of Chartered Accountants, in which he was reimbursed an extra £4,104.

It was revealed in court that Kaley had been using the money to help bankroll an online gambling addiction, which had cost him at least £1 million over five years.

His lawyer, Evan Cranfield, blamed Kaley’s job at Deloitte for his gambling problem, according to Accountancy Daily:

“He managed the tax affairs of corporate clients up to one billion pounds. A high degree of pressure.”

I’m sure most of you reading this have jobs with a “high degree of pressure” but aren’t submitting fake expense receipts to fund your gambling problem … OK, maybe a few of you are, but a majority of you probably aren’t.

Kaley vowed to use his £65,000 pension fund to repay Deloitte the bulk of the money he stole.