Mansfield man exploited friendships to fiddle £134,000 from subcontractors

Georgio Michael used his working knowledge of the payment system, and cash-flow problems faced by the firms, to ‘engineer situations’ where money was paid into his personal account for 16 months before the deception was uncovered in August 2018.

Christopher Jeyes, prosecuting at Nottingham Crown Court, described how the 31-year-old was ‘on friendly terms with the companies’ and ‘took advantage of the friendship and trust between them’, so ‘each of the companies thought he was doing them a favour’.

Michael took £53,000 from a haulage company set up by a university friend on the promise of work which was never offered.

Mr Jeyes said: “They didn’t truly believe he had defrauded them until they were contacted by an investigator working for his employer.”

Michael said he lost money through gambling and the stock market and made a single repayment of £500.

He approached five more companies waiting for payment and suggested transferring their account to a different supplier who would pay them sooner, but first asked for money to clear the balance.

When a family-run surfacing company that had paid him £10,300 tried to work out what was going on, Michael repeatedly made excuses for the delays.

He defrauded £24,500 from a sewer services company, £21,500 from a gas firm and £18,000 from a drilling consultancy, causing cash-flow problems and loss of trade.

A CCTV firm was unable to obtain asset finance for an ongoing job as a result of Michael’s fraud and later went out of business.

He was dismissed from Balfour Beatty in July 2018 after his explanations ‘didn’t hold water’. Checks on his bank account revealed large gambling losses.

Michael, of Matlock Avenue, Mansfield, admitted six counts of fraud.

Nicola Hornby, mitigating, said Michael’s current employer describes him as ‘fundamental to the business’ and she said he deserved credit for his early guilty pleas and lack of previous convictions.

“There was no evidence of high-living,” she said. “He lives with his parents. He has brought enormous shame on his family.”

Michael was jailed for two years, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.