Fraudster siphoned off nearly £100,000 from Sheffield company after he developed a porn addiction

Sheffield Crown Court heard on March 2 how Stephen Maloney, aged 36, had been an assistant accountant with Status Investments Ltd, of Abbeydale Hall, on Abbeydale Road, Sheffield, when he committed two counts of fraud between May, 2011, and November, 2015.

Recorder Angela Frost said: “You abused your position of trust by taking money from various accounts and paying them into various accounts of your own.”

Stephanie Hollis, prosecuting, said Maloney’s fraudulent activities were uncovered in December, 2015, when the firm checked transactions on the clients’ ledger and discovered payments had been made into accounts controlled by and linked to the defendant who had been creating bogus invoices.

Ms Hollis added that a company finance card had also been used for a subscription to the pornographic website Chatterbate and to pay for car insurance.

She said the overall fraudulent transactions totaled £98,693 and this included thousands of pounds taken from Status’s subsidiary company The Nose Ltd into Maloney’s bank account.

During a police interview, Maloney, formerly of Gerald Road, Kendray, Barnsley, said he had an addiction to online pornography which had put him in debt.

The court heard the financial loss to the company, which was involved in restaurants and snooker clubs, meant it had to go under special management which would not have happened if the money had not gone missing and this had also led to the closure of snooker clubs and job losses.

The company, which operated as a residential and snooker club business, is now known as Status Leisure Ltd.

Maloney, who has no previous convictions, of Cedar Street, Armley, Leeds, pleaded guilty to fraud relating to Status Leisure Ltd and its linked companies by transferring money into his own account and he also admitted fraud by using a card linked to The Nose Ltd.

Amy Earnshaw, prosecuting, said Maloney had paid £55,000 back to the company and these payments had only stopped when he had been trying to ascertain the exact outstanding amount but that was when the police became involved.

She added Maloney had been in a difficult relationship and he had begun using online pornography and he developed an addiction.

Ms Earnshaw said: “In order to cope with the stress he turned to using pornography sites on the internet and this became an addiction and these sites required payments and further payment if he wanted to speak to specific girls and this was how the offending began and it spiraled.”

She added that ASDA delivery driver Maloney has expressed remorse and has addressed his behaviour by seeking help from his GP and support groups and he is now in a new supportive relationship with a family.

Recorder Angela Frost sentenced Maloney to 20 months of custody suspended for two years with a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and 150 hours of unpaid work.

A Proceeds of Crime hearing has also been scheduled for later in the year to help recover owed money.