Poker Writer
A former Royal Bank of Scotland employee was jailed after scamming and bribing customers out of hundreds of thousands. 49-year-old Stuart Holloway from the small town of Prestonpans, told customers that he could reduce their liability of debts after they paid him £274,811. (or about $365,000 USD)
Holloway allegedly took the vast amounts of money from customers in order to feed a gambling addiction. He pleaded guilty to two amended charges under the Bribery Act. Holloway was so pushy with his requests for money that he caused one customer to sell his holiday home in Spain in order to be able to provide the funds.
He was sentenced to 21 months in prison at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Lead prosecutor Sineidin Corrins described Holloway’s actions:
Stuart Holloway’s criminal conduct amounted to an egregious betrayal of trust. His job within the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Global Restructuring Group was to help vulnerable customers whose businesses were in financial difficulties. Instead, he exploited that relationship by stealing a significant amount of money from them in return for preferential treatment. This is not a victimless crime and only added to the financial woes of those involved.
Taking From Customers Payment By Payment
The now jailed man worked with the bank’s Global Restructuring Group (GRG) as a relationship manager, starting in 2010. The money he stole all came during the period between 2012 and 2016 before taking voluntary redundancy in 2016.
Holloway asked his customers for a variety of ‘gifts’ for various reasons. He asked one customer with a struggling business for £20,000 to help with a parent’s wedding. That same customer ended up paying over £100,000 in the span of 11 months from 2012-2013 to accounts that belonged to Holloway and family members. The accused told this customer that all actions were legal and that the money was not going to the Royal bank of Scotland.
Holloway’s actions were reported to RBS bosses by a customer in 2016 where police then began to investigate.
Gambling Addiction the Culprit
The defense for the accused stated that, “had in no way threatened and in no way attempted to extort anyone. He fully accepts he was in a position of trust due to his employment and in the course of his employment, he breached that trust.”
The defense blamed a gambling addiction for Holloway’s continued demands for money. His addiction became so severe that he was pawning DVDs for extra money despite a high-earning six-figure salary.
The sherriff disagreed and declared that Holloway had full culpability and meant harm while he consistently took large sums of money from his customers.
