Man withdraws $1.8m from gaming venue ATMs

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Man withdraws $1.8m from gaming venue ATMs

By STATHI PAXINOS Thursday 18 May 2000

A glitch in the ANZ Bank's computer system allowed a man to withdraw more than $1.8 million during eight months from gaming venue ATMs, the County Court was told yesterday.

Prosecutor Ray Gibson said Angelo Maurice Patti, 38, was eventually caught after two clubs where he drained the ATMs of a total of $139,000 in one night became suspicious at the sudden loss of funds.

Judge John Nixon was told that Patti, in the early hours of April 15, 1999, stood patiently at the clubs' ATMs as he emptied one of $51,000 and another of $88,000, withdrawing $1000 at a time.

Mr Gibson said it was the ANZ's practice to place "interest not charged" tags on accounts that had been in debit for extended periods. Patti's savings account had been in debit for one year before the offences starting in August 1998.

The prosecutor said the bank's computer system misread the tag, allowing Patti to withdraw the money without debiting his account. However, it did record the transactions on the bank's EFTPOS system, allowing investigators to later track him.

Mr Gibson said police seized $1.2million in assets from Patti's house when he was arrested including $300,000 in cash.

Patti had also set up a share portfolio worth $445,000, given $85,000 to a friend to pay off a mortgage and bought a Harley Davidson motorcycle, although he did not have a licence.

The prosecutor said Patti used cash, usually $50 notes, for most of the investments. Patti, of Windsor Drive, Avondale Heights, pleaded guilty to one count of theft totalling $1,831,561 from August 15, 1998, to April 14, 1999.

Defence counsel Damien Cosgriff told the court Patti had been bullied and racially taunted at school and had developed a depressive disorder in his early 20s. He was later diagnosed as suffering agoraphobia.

Mr Cosgriff said gambling venues, where Patti was pandered to by the staff as a high roller, were among the few public places where he felt comfortable because in his thinking the machines would not ostracise him.

He said Patti told family and friends he had won the Powerball lottery.

Mr Cosgriff submitted that the unusual circumstances of the offence combined with Patti's psychiatric illnesses called for a non-custodial sentence. He said Patti had no resources to pay the outstanding $600,000.

Mr Gibson said Patti had enacted a sophisticated scheme, where the money was transferred to a company account set up by Patti to avoid paying maintenance to his former wife. He said Patti, a former business manager at a used car yard, also hid $145,000 in a shed at his de facto wife's premises.

He called for a jail term. The prosecutor said the unusual circumstances did not lesson the crime and Patti's purchases and share portfolio showed planning.

Judge Nixon remanded him in custody for sentencing on a date to be fixed.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000518/A2070-2000May17.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 17, 2000


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