Woman from Australia Admitted to Stealing $2.3 Million from Hisense Corporation and Wagering It on Gambling Activities
Hisense's ex-employee, Aphrodite Minor, guilty of swindling her company out of AU$3 million. This Australian woman, known for her role as a customer service manager at the electronics giant, masterfully manipulated the system to funnel customer refunds into her own pockets.
For seven long years (from 2014 to 2021), Minor deceived Hisense by fabricating thousands of fake warranty claims. When the company would honor these fictional claims by issuing refunds, the money would route through Minor, who pocketed it instead of passing it on to the nonexistent customers.
With over 1,000 "resolved claims," she swindled the company for a whopping AU$3.4 million (USD$2.3 million) and stashed the ill-gotten gains in 35 different bank accounts—all opened under her name or that of her family members. In an ironic twist, she then blew her loot on online gambling, hoping to win the money back and make it right with Hisense.
During the court case, Minor's lawyer argued that she was a victim of circumstance, facing a litany of hardships—strained familial relationships, stressful responsibilities towards her children and mother—that drove her to commit this crime. The prosecutor objected, contending that the intricate planning behind the scheme and its lengthy duration indicated this wasn't a hasty, emotional decision, but rather a carefully orchestrated act of deception.
Judge Nola Karapanagiotidis acknowledged Minor's crime as a significant breach of trust, but also saw her as primarily a decent individual in her personal life. Evidence showed that despite her embezzlement, she didn’t live lavishly. In fact, she lost a staggering AU$4 million (USD$2.7 million) gambling in just four years!
Minor's counsel pleaded for leniency, citing her client's PTSD and gambling addiction. As of now, it's uncertain what the sentence will be for this disgraced employee.
(Image Credit: Kārlis Dambrāns via Flickr.com)
- In a bizarre turn of events, the ex-employee of Hisense, Aphrodite Minor, who was recently convicted of stealing AU$3 million, was found to have squandered a significant portion of the ill-gotten gains on online gambling.
- The gambling trends of crime-and-justice news now include the story of Aphrodite Minor, a former customer service manager at Hisense, who gambled away a staggering AU$4 million, hoping to recoup some of her embezzled funds.
- Despite her substantial crime of embezzling AU$3.4 million from Hisense, general news reports reveal that Aphrodite Minor, the ex-employee found guilty of the swindle, did not lead a lavish lifestyle but instead lost even more money—AU$4 million—in gambling.
- In a case that links the worlds of news, crime-and-justice, and casino-and-gambling, the former employee of electronics giant Hisense, Aphrodite Minor, was found guilty of stealing AU$3 million which she subsequently lost gambling, in a bid to win back the funds and make amends with the company.
