Employee jailed after stealing £43,526 from charity

An accountant has been sentenced for 21 months in jail after stealing over £40,000 from his employer, human rights charity Amnesty International.

Sebastian Sarmiento Orozco, 27, worked as a junior accountant for the organisation in London when his employer noticed money going missing. They hired a private investigator who traced the fraud to Orozco.

The investigation found Orozco had been moving money to a foreign part of the accounting system where missing funds were less likely to be discovered, and would then spend his ill-gotten gains on luxuries such as flights to Dubai, designer handbags and an espresso machine. In total, he stole £43,526.

Judge Michael Hopmeier said Orozco’s actions were motivated by greed. “He had a good job and salary, no doubt good prospects and he found a way of stealing money, found a way of trying to disguise it in quite a sophisticated way and thought he would like some luxuries for him and his friends,” he said.