OCTOBER 16, 2002

F1 leads people astray...

A Monaco-based British banker was in court yesterday charged with siphoning money from the bank accounts of his clients, including Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher. Stephen Troth has confessed to spending up to $20m which belonged to others. Amazingly, none of his clients even noticed that money was missing and he was caught thanks to an internal audit by the private bank HSBC Republic in Monaco.

Troth's defence is that he was dazzled by the jet set lifestyle of his clients and began to take money from his clients to fund a similar lifestyle. At the time he was managing portfolios worth over $1bn. Troth used the money to buy and renovate property. The internal audit revealed 150 illegal withdrawals from the accounts under his control.

The prosecution is demanding that Troth be imprisoned for four years.