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A crooked bank worker who swindled friends out of more than £35,000 in a foreign currency scam has escaped a jail sentence.
David Hay conned the group of pals into handing over thousands of pounds in a bid to feed his out of control football gambling habit.
Hay, 42, convinced the men he could supply the currency at preferential rates due to his position as a financial investigator with banking giant HSBC.
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But the devious banker was spending the huge amounts he received from the investors on hundreds of online football bets with Bet365.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told one of the victims who acted as “a middle man” was forced to take out a £29,000 loan “to reimburse” his friends after the currency scam collapsed.
Hay admitted fraudulently obtaining £35,970 between June and October 2018 when he appeared at the capital court last month and he was back in the dock for sentencing on Friday.
Prosecutor Anna Chisholm told the court Hay contacted friend Gary Small on WhatsApp to inform him he could provide the foreign currency at cheap rates in June 2018.
Mr Small made bank transfers totalling £20,000 into two accounts belonging to Hay and the court was told “this agreement took place several times with no issues at first”.
But after Mr Small involved four friends in the deal Hay began reneging on handing over…
