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Logo of a savings bank branch (symbol image)
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
A former advisor to a savings bank who cheated customers out of almost half a million euros has been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.
The Kassel district court saw it as proven that the man brought customers of the Sparkasse Werra-Meißner in Eschwege in northern Hesse for a total of 460,000 euros.
This was announced by a court spokesman.
The »HNA« and the »Handelsblatt« had previously reported.
The 44-year-old had confessed comprehensively and even admitted processes that not even the internal auditing of the Sparkasse had uncovered by then, said the spokesman.
The man had therefore visited customers at home from 2013 and got them to invest in gold.
In doing so, he gave the impression that the gold was being deposited in a depot of the Sparkasse.
"Instead, the defendant kept the gold himself and later sold it successively if necessary," the spokesman explained.
In two other cases, he presented his old customers with receipts for signature, supposedly to confirm a consulting service.
In truth, however, these were instructions for cash withdrawals.
The banker is said to have withdrawn EUR 30,000 and EUR 40,000 respectively on behalf of his customers.
The fraud became known in 2019.
The court also ruled that the man wanted to use the money from the fraud to satisfy his increasing gambling addiction.
"This was no longer taxable from September 2018," said a court spokesman according to the "Hessenschau".
According to an expert opinion, the man also suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder.
Customers are now fully compensated
According to "Hessenschau", the court therefore saw from September 2018 only a reduced guilty capacity.
According to the report, the prosecutor had asked for a significantly higher prison sentence of four years.
According to the »Handelsblatt«, those affected have now been fully compensated.
The convicted person must therefore pay damages in the amount of 650,000 euros.
fek / dpa
