From: InfoSec News (isnc4i.org)
Date: Tue Oct 21 2003 - 05:12:01 CDT

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http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/17/1066364488821.html

[Hackers are still a sexy threat to advertise on full-page ads,
but ALWAYS watch out for those "trusted insiders". - WK]
  

By Philip Cornford, Sean Cowan
October 18, 2003

Once a week, usually on a Thursday night, up to $400,000 would arrive
in an internet betting account. It signalled that the bank manager,
the biggest punter on the books of Darwin-based International All
SportsBet, was up and running.

Sitting at a keyboard in the Commonwealth Bank in Karratha, 1700
kilometres to the south-west, bank manager Kim David Faithfull was
gambling on horses with stolen money, a theft that would eventually
total nearly $19 million.

"He'd keep betting in huge amounts until all the money was gone," a
former IASBet Darwin trading room employee said. "You couldn't miss
him. My first reaction was, who is he? I was told his name. Faithfull.
Yeah, but who is he? I was told he was a bank manager. It was common
knowledge but it wasn't said out aloud."

For five years, waiting until his staff had gone home, Faithfull, 36,
used the West Australian bank's computer to transfer the stolen funds
directly into an IASBet online betting account with the Bennett Street
branch of the Commonwealth Bank, in Darwin. He took the money from
term deposit accounts and foreign currency notes.

Despite the frequency and size of the thefts from 1998, despite
regular audits, Faithfull's activities were not detected. The
Commonwealth Bank had no idea that one of their managers was robbing
them blind until Faithfull gave himself up.

But first he made a frantic effort to punt his way out of deep
trouble.

Trying to recover $8 million he had already stolen and lost, Faithfull
stole, bet and lost another $11 million to IASBet in six months. His
weekly deposits into the IASBet account were never less than $200,000,
often as big as $400,000.

He was IASBet's biggest punter, "eight to 10 times bigger than anyone
else", the former employee said. Alarm bells should have been ringing.
If they did, they went unheeded.

His extraordinary plunge was monitored by IASBet's executive chairman
Mark Read.

Once Australia's biggest bookmaker, Mr Read knows how to manage big
risks. IASbet's rules stipulate that its maximum exposure on any one
bet is limited to $200,000, except by "prior negotiation". There was
no limit on Faithfull.

His average bet was around $20,000 but he went as high as $70,000.
None of his bets were refused.

"Faithfull's bets were so erratic they were a joke - if they weren't
so big. That made them scary," a former employee said. "He bet on up
to 20 races on a Saturday. He'd put a lot of money on no-hopers at
long odds. Sometimes two in the same race. On the card, they had no
chance - but what if he fluked it and won? He'd clean us out."

But Faithfull seldom won. He had no judgement, no expertise, no
clinical calm. He also had very little luck.

"Occasionally, he'd have a big win," the former employee said. "He had
about $70,000 on Northerly in either last year's Cox Plate or the
Caulfield (Northerly won both). He had more than $50,000 on when
Private Steer won (The Stradbroke at 9-4) at Eagle Farm.

"But he was your classic mug punter."

Faithfull appears to have been a compulsive gambler. He stole to feed
an addiction, not to gather wealth.

He didn't sock away one cent of the $19 million. He blew it on slow
horses.

Faithfull could have continued stealing. No one had the slightest
suspicion. He lived modestly on his $45,000 salary in a bank-owned
house with his partner and five-year-old son. He was a bit of a hero
among the citizens of Karratha.

Faithfull's final flutter was on Saturday, August 2. The next day,
Faithfull drove to the bank. He wrote a note to two of his staff,
confessing to stealing big sums of money.

Faithfull did not turn up at work on Monday. When his note was found,
it was faxed to the bank's head office in Perth.

Auditors began investigating and the next day the police were
informed. By then, Faithfull had contacted the bank and told them he
was driving to Perth with his family to surrender. On Wednesday,
Faithfull left his partner and son at the suburban home of his sister.

He went to the bank head office in William Street where he was
interviewed all day by bank investigators.

The next day, he was taken to the major fraud squad. At 5.30pm,
Faithfull was in the police lockup.

In the morning, Faithfull was charged in the Perth Magistrates Court
with theft as a servant, the biggest case of its kind in Australia.

Later that week in court Faithfull pleaded guilty. He is to be
sentenced next Friday. The maximum penalty is 10 years' jail.

Faithfull has been helping investigators trace the money he stole,
which totalled $18,998,309.36. He will be the key witness for the
Commonwealth Bank in any action to recover the money.

Faithfull told police that he had informed IASBet that he was a bank
manager.

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