A crooked bank worker who swindled £36,000 in a foreign currency scam to fund his football gambling addiction has dodged a jail term.
David Hay was employed as a financial investigator with HSBC when he cheated a group of pals out of the huge sum.
The 42-year-old carried out the fraud to allow him to bet “as much money as possible” online, a court heard.
Hay appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Friday for sentencing after the case was deferred for reports.
Sheriff Douglas Keir gave Hay the maximum 300 hours of unpaid work.
The sheriff told him there was no discount for his guilty plea as the “discount” was not going to prison.
Hay was also placed on supervision for 20 months and ordered to pay £250-a-month to victim Garry Small for the next 18 months.
At a hearing last month, the court heard Garry was forced to take out a £29,000 loan to reimburse friends after he recommended investing cash with the con artist.
Hay’s ex-wife also took out a £25,000 loan to pay back people who had been targeted by the fraudulent scheme.
Fiscal depute Anna Chisholm told that hearing how Hay contacted Garry, whom he knew through family friends, over WhatsApp.
Hay claimed he could provide euros and dollars at “excellent rates” as he received the currency from a HSBC senior manager in Paris.
Hay claimed the manager…
