Employee gets four years for theft from trust fund

A judge sentenced Patricia Glasgow this week to four years’ imprisonment for the theft of US$437,300 from a trust fund for which she was a trustee.  

Glasgow, 46, was an employee of Bodden Corporate Services at the time of the theft, which occurred via 74 transactions between September 2008 and August 2011. She was also charged with obtaining money transfers from the trust account by deception; and making funds transfer requests without authority. 

She initially pleaded not guilty and trial was set for June 2014, but in November, Glasgow changed her pleas to guilty. Sentencing was set for January, at which time Justice Charles Quin ordered an inquiry into Glasgow’s means so that he could decide on whether to require her to pay compensation. 

The judge on Tuesday set out a chronology of events, noting that Glasgow first appeared in court in December 2012. She entered into a sale and purchase agreement to sell her home to her brother in April, 2013. On May 20, 2013, an injunction was filed against Glasgow prohibiting her from disposing of assets. 

On June 3, she received a bank draft for CI$220,000 for the sale of her home. She paid off the mortgage and related debts, paid her brother $75,000 for investment and monthly maintenance of her son, paid $10,000 in bills and paid $5,000 to her son. When served with the injunction on June 12, Glasgow averred that she was unable to comply with the order that she should pay the balance of the property into the court because she had already disposed of the proceeds. 

Crown counsel Toyin Salako asked the court for a compensation order for the $75,000 Glasgow had paid to her brother. However, it was then learned that she owed him $17,900 for rent, utilities and legal fees. Other money paid out of the $75,000 included $5,500 to a friend. 

After further inquiries, the judge ordered compensation in the sum of $44,600 from the money Glasgow had given her brother. He said he was satisfied she did not have other realizable assets. 

Justice Quin pointed to legal principles that say it is wrong to make an order for compensation when the offender lacks the means to pay. He added, however, that a victim can sue in a civil court. 

Going on to consider sentence, he noted there were several victims in this case along with the Rochester Ltd. trust, which had been set up to provide funds for animal protection and for assistance to environmental groups. Glasgow had breached the trust of her employer, her fellow trustee, and a co-worker whose signature she forged. 

This type of offense also affects public confidence in Cayman companies and the financial regulations that form an essential part of the financial services industry. “In other words, the reputation of our financial services industry on which our economy depends is damaged every time this type of breach of trust criminal offense is committed,” Justice Quin declared.  

He accepted in Glasgow’s favor that she had no previous convictions. 

Ms. Salako and defense attorney Ben Tonner had submitted sentencing guidelines from the U.K. and local precedents, based on the amount stolen, as affected by inflation and currency conversion. Justice Quin pointed out that the court did not have the benefit of any expert evidence as to inflation figures or cost of living in Cayman or in the U.K. Expert evidence would be expensive and payment would have to come from the public purse. On any view, however, the sum of money stolen was substantial, he concluded. 

The appropriate sentence he arrived at was five years imprisonment. Given the strength of the case against Glasgow and her belated guilty plea, he considered the appropriate reduction to be 20 percent [the usual discount being one-third].