After pleading guilty to several Fraud and Money Laundering charges, Wendy Simpson, a 66 year-old UK national, was sentenced in the Supreme Court yesterday (13 February).

She was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment on charges of Fraud and 20 months on charges relating to Money Laundering, the two sentences to be served concurrently.  She has already served seven months on remand so she will be imprisoned for a further 13 months.

Simpson, an in-house accountant for a local company, was arrested in July 2023 following an in-depth investigation by the RGP’s Economic Crime Unit. 

The court had heard that, between August 2022 and April 2023, Simpson had made 67 unauthorised transactions from the client accounts of her employer. Of these bank transfers, 54 transactions were sent directly to two of her foreign bank accounts.

As a result of her actions, Simpson’s employers suffered a loss of almost £44,000.

Between September 2022 and March 2023, Simpson provided incorrect information to the directors of the company concerning the state of the company accounts. She provided balances showing that the accounts held more funds than were available in the bank.