A woman who stole millions of dollars from a significant Australian bank has been given a minimum eight-year sentence.
Between 2013 and 2018, Helen Mary Rosamond, 48, defrauded the National Australia Bank of more than $19 million by fabricating and inflating invoices from her event management company, Human Group.
Rosamond was found guilty by a jury in November of giving Rosemary Rogers, a former head of staff to NAB executives, illicit advantages and of obtaining or attempting to get property by fraud.
Judge Robert Sutherland sentenced Rosamond to 15 years in jail with an eight-year non-parole period on Thursday. “The overarching motivation of the offender is accurately described as one of greed, self-gratification, and enrichment,” said Judge Sutherland.
Rosamond cheated the bank for almost five years, a monument to her level of forethought, the judge said. Rosamond was successful in concealing her derived financial benefit from her own company and even her co-offender.
For her part in the same conspiracy, Rogers pled guilty to corruptly collecting benefits in February 2020. She is currently serving an eight-year prison term with a four-year, four-month non-parole period.
Submissions that sought to cast more culpability on Rosamond’s co-offender were denied by the judge.
The judge stated that Rosamond and her co-offender clearly relied on one another to carry out the fraud, for which they were both equally responsible, as opposed to being controlled by Rogers.
The judge noted that both Rosemary Rogers, who worked for the bank, and Helen Rosamond, who worked for Human Group, “were extremely efficient during the years the fraud continued.”
According to testimony at Rosamond’s trial, Rogers received a house, a BMW, a boat, vacations, and other perks.
Human Group started providing NAB with legitimate services in 2006 before beginning to swindle it in 2013.
With the authorised ability to approve expenditures up to $20 million, Rogers would see to it that contracts with Human Group were renewed and would pay its inflated invoices.
They were unaware of Rogers’ power until a new CEO took onboard.
Such a significant authorization, according to the judge, is an excellent example of the level of power and trust Rogers exploited within the bank.
Rosamond had repeatedly and persistently misled her own organisation while not violating the trust placed in her at the same degree.
The judge treated Rosamond’s assertion that she wished to show remorse—which came from “an apparently unquestioning third-party”—with “considerable reserve” because Rosamond herself provided no evidence.
In December 2030, she will be eligible for release.
