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Subscribe to RSSA New Zealand man who fled to China after millions of dollars were accidentally deposited in his bank account was sentenced Friday to four years and seven months in prison, TVNZ reported.
Hui "Leo" Gao, dubbed the "accidental millionaire," and Kara Hurring, his former girlfriend and mother of his child, fled the country in April 2009 after Westpac Bank mistakenly credited his account with $10 million instead of $100,000, TVNZ reported. Gao had applied for an overdraft to keep his struggling business - a BP gas station - afloat, The Rotorua Daily Post reported.
"A lot of people say: 'You're lucky, like winning the lottery'. I say: 'Nothing worse could happen to you'," Gao, 31, told The Daily Post.
Gao was caught in December 2011, when he attempted to cross from mainland China into Hong Kong, TVNZ reported. He pleaded guilty to seven charges of theft, totaling almost $6.8 million. About $3.7 million is still missing, and Gao has refused to say what happened to it, The Daily Post said.
"All I can say is I'm not in a position to pay the reparations," he said, according to The Daily Post.
According to Al Jazeera, Hurring, 33, was sentenced to nine months under house arrest and ordered to pay back the $9,588 she withdrew using Gao's credit card.
"I wish I could have another chance," Gao told TV ONE's Sunday.
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"If they put money in my bank account again you know I would just give them back. I am never going to do it again."
According to Al Jazeera, the bank noticed the erroneous transfer days after it happened, but Gao and Hurring had already fled to Hong Kong by then and had transferred a big chunk of the money into other accounts. They also allegedly went on a gambling spree in Macau and southern China.
The couple's life on the run triggered an international manhunt by Interpol and other overseas agencies.
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Leave a Comment:
if it was in the 60 maybe this guy will be gone.
"I wish I could have another chance," Gao
Sure, that's the ticket--he 'wishes' he could have another chance. He should enter politics.
It's entrapment. His business was in trouble, and the bank dangled a carrot in front of his nose. It was the banks fault. Maybe they should hire people that know the difference between $100,000.00 and $10,000,000.00. And, it took the bank several days before they noticed the error? I'd sue the bank. They were negligent, and he was in shock, or temporary insanity, or temporary ecstasy.
I agree. It was the bank's fault. A legal 'good samaritan' should take on this couple and sue the bank. H would still have to pay back the money, BUT HE/SHE DOES NOT DESERVE TO be in jail . . .!!!
@Ricocheck, What?
60's, as in 1960's.
Well gosh, if he hadn't spent money he knew darn well that he wasn't entitled to, he wouldn't be in this mess. Despite his claim that he is not in a position to pay it back, he should have to forfeit a portion of his earnings for the rest of his life to pay back what he owes to the bank. Their mistake is not a bonus for you, it's your chance to be a responsible and moral person and inform them of their error, or at the least to not take the money and abscond with it immediately. He did the wrong thing (and so did his girlfriend; she was definitely complicit in this) and they deserve to pay the penalty for it.
Agreed, he knew full well that he was not entitled to that money. I do not know what would possess someone in this day and age to think they could get away with absconding with the money. Did they really think the bank was not going to catch the error?!?! Did they think that law enforcement would not be able to track them down?!?! This guy has no one to blame for his situation but himself. He is now going to working for that bank for the rest of his life as they will take everything but bare subsistence amounts from his wages until the entire amount he stole is paid back. I also guess the bank is now going to be the owner of his gas station which he was tying to save.
Oh yeah, it's your "chance" to be responsible, while they are brazenly IRRESPONSIBLE to the point of bringing the entire world financial system to the brink of collapse due to their greed. If you are an average Joe you get a prison sentence, if you are a corporate exec you get a government bailout. What a crock of sh1t. Anyone who buys into the moral slop dished out by prosecutors is a sorry sap indeed. Wake up and smell the reek of hypocrisy.
Everybody should know that if you f*** with the banks, they will do everything in their power to get you. Hell, our entire government is bribed by the banking and financial institutions, including Australia, New Zealand, Britain, and from what it looks like, everybody else too.
When the banks f*** you over though, you're powerless. I'm not saying what this guy did isn't wrong, but justice should go both ways.
I agree Beer Mug, but if that kind of money showed up in my account, I'd figure it was a lure and I would not take the bait. He did and got hooked after running out a bunch of line and dragging the fisherman through the mud.........If I were him, I'd say, "It's a good cop" and do my time with grace......Still, people need to stop letting the Bankers get away with murder......because people did and do die because of their greed and selfishness....
If that money showed up in my account, I would 've handled it better. Let's see, how much is a ticket to Caymans or Bahamas? Maybe a privately owned island in the caribean.
The way I see it is if the bank makes a mistake and gives you money and you spend it.... it is them who should have to pay for the mistake, not you.
Again the amount of people who think its perfectly ok to STEAL when the bank makes a mistake utterly sickens me. Glad to know good moral upstanding citizens are hard to find now a days. Frankly anyone who thinks this is ok to do makes me sick. You deserve every ounce of prison time you get. This is why society is what it is today....
Dan: If this happened to me, I'd obviously make them aware of the mistake, but it really is what it is. I don't think banks are exactly in the position of 'moral authority,' all considering. How about the recent libor scandal? Everything that led to 2008? Predatory lending? If banks actually played by the rules, without changing rules to their advantage, and didn't treat the global marketplace as a board game, then it would feel a little less like this man was essentially robbing a drug dealer who accidentally left a bag of money in his yard.
Its called "financial advantage by deception"e.Federal offence. Anything can become illegal if a Judge decides its illegal. That's the law Folks. There is no such a thing as right or wrong.
What an idiot! He deserves what he gets, he knew that wasn't his money.
OOh, OOh, I want to do it too. Can I? Can I?
He got way more than he deserved. $3.8 million more.
So wait explain this to me? So if a bank steals from a country and calls it a mistake we give them money, but if they screw up and give us extra money we get arrested? What the @!$%#!!!
Not sure how a New Zealand bank stole from the country?
Larry, couldn't have said it better!!!!!! Sounds to me like the back owes HIM some serious "fees"!
Ok lets be clear this is a New Zealand bank and New Zealand banks never requested nor did they require bail out money so I have no idea what you are referring to.
Yeah Larry what part of STEALING do you not understand? Really?
If you're going to do this, then pick a nice non-extradition country, change name & appearance, stay low for a while. Hasn't this guy watched a Bourne movie? At least be a smart criminal. Gheesh...
Belize.
Maybe he donated it to the church, some to the disadvantaged elderly, hungry homeless, starving children... donated some to schools and provided beneficial services to whole families, and then a little to the Red Cross.... YAH RIGHT LOL
Hey! sounds like he was disadvantaged. Does that count?
Seems like they're always sorry when they get caught...or is it just me?
They're only sorry if they get caught. No, it's not just you.
He should have hidden it in the Caymans, Bermuda and Switzerland, like Mitt !
Yea, I really want to the flip flopper's 2009 tax return to see if he took advantage of the IRS amnesty program that year.
Sure, then afterwards we can see your measly 2009 tax return. Loser. What pisses me off about idiots like you is that you swear that if you were wealthy or in a similar position you would do the "righteous" thing, but the reality is you wouldn't. The hypocrisy kills me.
Actually I probably give a larger percentage of my income to charity / etc then most do and I agree. If someone rich does what eveyone else can do they are somehow scum. Still I have no problem with them paying more. Like it was back in the 40's and 60's. Letting them pay less isn't working and well duh. The rich get to vote on what the rich want to do? Seems like a no brainer here huh?
Sounds like Romoney, just another crook.:-)
The irony is that I bet you can probably spell the current Presidents name correctly which is about 10x harder than Mitt's. Not that I should be surprised.
Mittens will never be President, so why bother learning to spell his name
monopoly bank error card
Community Chest
BANK ERROR
IN YOUR FAVOR
COLLECT 10 MILLION DOLLARS
Stealing $10 Million?
Sounds like what a Wall Street Bankster does for a warm up exercise before finishing his morning coffee.
Hahaha!! That's so hilarious. NOT! You probably don't even have the slightest clue what a Wall Street "Bankster" does on a day to day basis. No big deal, they only allow you to live in houses that you can't afford without a loan, or a drive a car without a loan, or go to school without a loan. So when you need them they're great, but when you can't think for yourself and have to follow a blind mob they're evil, right? Got it.
Are you getting treatment for that head injury?
hehe. And he wasn't smart enough actually to flee to a country that wouldn't send him right back? Caymans, Aruba, the Bahamas, Mexico... I mean, fleeing to China - a country that would probably execute their own people for the same crime - to AVOID punishment for a crime seems to be rather, well, idiotic. Heck, they probably beat him while he was in Chinese custody, for good measure.
Hmm steal and get to keep and spend 4 million and only do 4 years in jail. I wonder how many people would volunteer to live in a jail and get paid $1 million a year.
good for them banks have screwed folks for years now it s payback time
Let's see. Can't return $3.8 million and he gets 4 years free room and board. Wow! Where do I sign up?
He could have used some tips from Mitt Romney on where to go with the money.
What goes around,comes around.
A gambling spree? That's just like throwing it away.
There are people that steal billions and are still walking around free. That is the real injustice.
I might have done the same thing...$10 million could tempt a good man to go bad...
Gao was stupid. He should have gone to the Ecuadorian embassy in England. They don't have a problem with harboring fugitives from justice.
A man accidently tipped someone $4,000. The judge held up that it was his error and let the tip stand.
This is no different, except the amount.
Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank.
Give a man a bank and he can rob the world.
Hmmm ... it will be interesting when he gets out of prison. They will be following him everywhere looking for that missing money!
Seems like he wins. He gets out in 4 years. Moves to China with millions. The rest of us will still be working.