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Welshman and alleged gambling addict Jeffrey Bevan is facing trial in Cardiff, in the United Kingdom, after being caught stealing more than US$2.5 million in public funds from the island of Bermuda in the Caribbean.
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Hired by Bermuda's Accountant General for a US$100,000-a-year job, Bevan moved to the island along with his wife Samantha and their two children in January 2011.
Soon after, he allegedly began siphoning Bermuda's public funds into a bank account registered jointly in his and his wife's name, only to lose most of it gambling.
"He is in reality a gambling addict," said Prosecutor Tim Evans, who is handling Bevan's case.
Evidence suggests that Bevan used the stolen money to place bets and buy houses, luxury cars and apartments.
The defendant insists he earned the money legitimately by working overtime, but Bermuda's government has called this a "ridiculous claim."
Stephen Hadfield, managing director of bookmakers Paddy Power, says Bevan placed 18,853 bets between November 1, 2008 and May 9, 2014, in the process losing about US$625,280.
Bevan quit his Bermuda job in May 2013, citing his mother's poor health and his children's education as his reasons for returning to Wales. By then, he had already transferred most of the money to a Barclays bank account under the name JCB Accountancy Services.
Bevan then proceeded to buy nine U.K. properties and rent them out as a way of laundering the looted cash, according to the prosecution.
By the time a Bermuda investigation uncovered Bevans' scheme, he had already fled – to the United Kingdom, which considers moving unlawfully earned money between bank accounts a crime.
Now, he faces trial at Cardiff Crown Court for making more than 50 fraudulent payments worth $1.9 million to himself in Bermuda then transferring most of the stolen money to the United Kingdom.
Bevans' wife has yet to be charged, but his friends Joel Ishmael and Paul Charity also stand accused of helping him launder the money.
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