Have you ever been tempted to poke around a bit too hard in material that you’ve been given access to as part of your fancy Big 4 job? Allegedly, 21-year-old Paul Issa did just that.
Paul used to work at EY but is now out on bail after he and 25-year-old Phillip Issa allegedly accessed the private banking data of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Paul was seconded to Commonwealth Bank “as part of a contingent of consultants advising on the lender’s mortgage system,” said AFR. So they sent him to the bank to work on the mortgage program and he did…that. Allegedly.
Although this latest incident is definitely not going to help with Big 4’s current, ongoing battle with the Australian government, it’s worth noting that EY took action right away and sent Paul packing.
There were actually two EY employees rooting around in the PM’s banking info — and apparently they accessed the data of an EY senior partner as well — but only Paul has been named and it doesn’t appear the other ex-employee has been charged while Paul and Phillip were charged on May 6, the same day they allegedly accessed the data. So at least we know the post-incident mechanisms are working as they should.
Along with a charge from Australian Federal Police for viewing the private banking data of a parliamentarian (excellent word), Paul has also been hit with a charge for “using a carriage service to make available, publish or otherwise distribute information that is personal data, of one or more individuals, and engaged in that conduct in a way that reasonable persons would regard, in all the circumstances, as menacing or harassing towards those individuals.”
The reporting on this story is a bit thin, leaving us to wonder how a 21-year-old chucklehead consultant with two months on the job was able to waltz past security measures and pull up the PM’s bank account. We’re also wondering what exactly was done from there to lead to that second charge.
Was it worth it, bro?
Of course the investors are appealing but one win at at time, amiright?