Hedge fund worker who bought Spanish villa after stealing £2.7m from bosses jailed

Distance runner: Susan Anderson, a mother of three, stole from the hedge fund where she worked
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A hedge fund worker who splashed out on holidays, designer handbags and a villa in Spain with £2.7 million stolen from her bosses has been jailed for four and a half years.

Susan Anderson, 53, spent a decade at Doughty Hanson & Co Managers Limited, siphoning off money through her role as office manager.

She ordered about £2 million for herself in foreign currency before doctoring paperwork to hide the fraud, Southwark crown court was told.

Anderson — a dedicated long-distance runner who has competed in national competitions — also used a company card on spending sprees for designer clothes, handbags and accessories, and plundered about £100,000 from petty cash between 2009 and June last year.

Christopher Coltart QC, prosecuting, told the court: “This was a widespread and extensive fraud committed by her. Money was spent on a variety of high value and luxury items, including a villa in Spain, high-end vehicles, luxury goods, expensive holidays and private education for her three children.”

He said Anderson also used the money for expenses such as fitness supplements, gym membership, train fares to work and airport parking.

The mother-of-three joined the St James’s-based hedge fund in 1990 as the office manager, and the “trusted position she occupied was key to her ability to commit the offences”, added Mr Coltart.

Anderson was on £65,000 a year plus bonuses in 2018 when the fraud was uncovered, and was also found to have lied about her earnings to obtain an £800,000 property mortgage. She has been offering her services as a personal assistant and business support worker since leaving the hedge fund.

Doughty Hanson brought the case to court through a private prosecution, and Anderson pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by abuse of position and one of fraud by false representation.

Jailing her, Judge Christopher Hehir said: “As officer manager you were in a trusted position. You betrayed that trust by your employers by the way of a total of £2.7 million.

“As well as being a prolonged and persistent breach of trust, your offending was sophisticated as well, not only in the way you carried out the fraud but also in the way you covered your tracks.”

Ben Summers, defending, told the court that Anderson, of Horsham, West Sussex, had been suffering from an underlying personality disorder, and was affected by a “male-dominated and financially driven” workplace after joining the hedge fund.

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