MARY Ann Abellanoza has been given an eight-year sentence in the NSW District Court, after being convicted of defrauding Silversea Cruises of $3.7 million. Abellanoza was the bookkeeper at Silversea’s Australian office in Sydney from 2014 to 2018, with the court hearing she made 236 fraudulent payments into seven bank...
MARY Ann Abellanoza has been given an eight-year sentence in the NSW District Court, after being convicted of defrauding Silversea Cruises of $3.7 million.
Abellanoza was the bookkeeper at Silversea’s Australian office in Sydney from 2014 to 2018, with the court hearing she made 236 fraudulent payments into seven bank accounts over that period.
She pleaded guilty to four charges of “dishonestly obtaining a financial benefit by deception,” as well as further charges of “dealing with the proceeds of crime” in relation to the laundering of the funds through poker machines.
The overall sentence included a five year non-parole period, with the judge taking her early guilty plea into account.
Although she was on an $88,000 salary and entitled to a free Silversea luxury cruise each year, Abellanoza’s lawyers said she began to feel “undervalued” by the company as her workload increased.
The fraud was perpetrated by changing the payment details on legitimate invoices so that money from Silversea was directed into Abellanoza’s accounts, rather than to the company’s suppliers.
The lawyers claimed she began making the fake payments to herself as a means of proving that Silversea’s systems were faulty and that more staff were needed.
However, Judge Culver noted a “degree of sophistication” in the scam, and also noted that a significant part of the stolen money remains unaccounted for.
“These crimes can cause financial devastation on a company, its clients, shareholders and have a great impact on other people working within the organisation,” she said.
A Silversea spokesperson thanked authorities for “bringing the criminal proceedings to a just conclusion”.
