If Londonist were to steal oodles of cash from our employers, we'd probably make like Joyti de Laurey, the Goldman Sachs secretary who helped herself to millions of pounds that she squandered on jewelry, speedboats and a Cyprus villa before landing in jail.
What we probably wouldn't do is get our hands on the cash then blow the lot on strippers. Yet that's exactly what a lawyer for Radcliffes Le Brasseur did between 2003 and 2006.
Highgate-based Paul Saffron, an insolvency partner at the Westminster-based firm, got his end away with the company accounts, pocketing some £223,203 which he used to furnish the pantylines of strippers across London. After the company discovered the missing money, Mr. Saffron was arrested and jailed last year for 12 months. He has now officially been struck off from practising law.
Mr. Saffron claims clinical depression was to blame, yet this didn't stop the judge delivering a damning verdict that has terminated his career. Still, he can take heart that he at least got to live part of George Best's famous maxim: "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered". Next time he "acquires" a sum of money, maybe he can explore the other two avenues.
Image courtesy of Duncan's Flickrstream under the Creative Commons Attribution license
