'Robin hood' bank manager took £7m to give to poor (U.K.)

Source: Telegraph

A bank manager who transferred millions of pounds from rich clients to give to poorer customers, did so for "an entirely altruistic motive" a court has heard.

Benedict Hancock, 39, behaved like a modern day Robin Hood as he channelled more than £7million into the accounts of companies in trouble.

The Royal Bank of Scotland senior relationship manager did so without any "direct financial gain", according to a judge at Blackfriars Crown Court.

The court was told that the father of two carried out the fraud because "he wanted the companies to do well, for their sake rather than his".

Hancock, like his mythical counterpart, is from Nottinghamshire. He enjoyed good relationships with the 40 corporate clients whose money he looked after.

However, when some of the firms needed extra cash to see them through difficult times, he loaned them money from his richer customers, by setting up numerous false accounts...cont'd



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yes it was illegal...but the rich clients never noticed?
does that mean that most of the borrowed money over the years was paid back?

Notice that this was transferred to poor companies and not poor individuals. I tend to think this is wrong. Some poor companies do poorly for a reason.

but not the kind I like. This wasn't robbing the rich to give to the poor, it was bailing out companies, not people. If he gave it to struggling small businesses, maybe, but 6.3 million to a clothing manufacturer? There's no altruism here.