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Irregular News for 10.13.05
Australia -- If Sean Clifford had done the right thing and handed in the $263,000 he claims to have found on a Sydney street, he could be looking forward to the best Christmas of his life.
But instead the 23-year-old former Macquarie Bank employee is out of pocket and on an 18-month good behaviour bond after he decided to stash a chunk of the cash under his desk and the rest in a safety deposit box.
Clifford pleaded guilty yesterday in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court to one charge of larceny by finding.
He was arrested in May after a colleague found a backpack under his desk at Macquarie Bank's Sydney headquarters stuffed with more than $110,000 in $50 and $100 notes, and reported it to police. Police later found a further $150,000 in a safety deposit box.
Clifford told them he found the money in a deserted street in the inner-city suburb of Chippendale.
Magistrate Chris Longley said yesterday it was understandable for a person who found that amount of money to have the initial reaction that "all their Christmases had come at once". But he said the second reaction should have been to notify the authorities.
"What he should have done is take the money to the police. The sense of irony is that, had he adopted that course, this Christmas would have been better than others."
Clifford's lawyer, Bernard Brassil, said his client had acted "erratically" when he decided to keep the cash.
"This is a case of a 23-year-old man who found a lifetime fortune and didn't know what to do with it and was tempted and behaved quite erratically," he said. "This money began to dominate his life. He was in somewhat of a state of panic."
Mr Brassil said the money had since been forfeited to the Crown with the NSW Crime Commission taking $40,000 for legal fees. He said his client had been fired from Macquarie Bank and had not been paid a $7000 bonus.
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Australia -- If Sean Clifford had done the right thing and handed in the $263,000 he claims to have found on a Sydney street, he could be looking forward to the best Christmas of his life.
But instead the 23-year-old former Macquarie Bank employee is out of pocket and on an 18-month good behaviour bond after he decided to stash a chunk of the cash under his desk and the rest in a safety deposit box.
Clifford pleaded guilty yesterday in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court to one charge of larceny by finding.
He was arrested in May after a colleague found a backpack under his desk at Macquarie Bank's Sydney headquarters stuffed with more than $110,000 in $50 and $100 notes, and reported it to police. Police later found a further $150,000 in a safety deposit box.
Clifford told them he found the money in a deserted street in the inner-city suburb of Chippendale.
Magistrate Chris Longley said yesterday it was understandable for a person who found that amount of money to have the initial reaction that "all their Christmases had come at once". But he said the second reaction should have been to notify the authorities.
"What he should have done is take the money to the police. The sense of irony is that, had he adopted that course, this Christmas would have been better than others."
Clifford's lawyer, Bernard Brassil, said his client had acted "erratically" when he decided to keep the cash.
"This is a case of a 23-year-old man who found a lifetime fortune and didn't know what to do with it and was tempted and behaved quite erratically," he said. "This money began to dominate his life. He was in somewhat of a state of panic."
Mr Brassil said the money had since been forfeited to the Crown with the NSW Crime Commission taking $40,000 for legal fees. He said his client had been fired from Macquarie Bank and had not been paid a $7000 bonus.
Full Story