Insurance Claims Handler jailed for
defrauding employer to fund drug addiction
A Claims Handler employed at the Fenchurch Street Offices of AIG has been sentenced to two years imprisonment for defrauding his Employer AIG £390,478 to fund his Cocaine habit.
James Beaver, 40, who was based in the insurer’s Complex Claims Department made a series of false payments to his personal Bank Account to fund his STG£500 a day Cocaine habit. The Claims Handler made 94 fraudulent payments to his personal Bank Account and managed to make 3 of these after he was fired for gross misconduct in February 2018.
The Claims Handler was dismissed by AIG in February 2018 as a result of a separate incident. After his dismissal he persuaded staff at the Croydon office of AIG to allow him to enter the offices to use the computers and having done so he made 3 further payments to himself even though he had already been dismissed. Several of the payments he made used a colleague’s login details.
In mitigation the Claims Handler said that his drug habit worsened after the death of his son in 2015. As a result of his drug habit he had lost his job, his marriage broke up and the Family Home had to be sold.
The Employee conceded to the Court that AIG had been very good to him at all times and particularly during the period around the time of the death of his son but having taken all considerations into account the Court decided that the breach of trust over a prolonged period of time merited the two-year jail sentence.
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