| Former high-flying Macquarie Bank manager Michael Roth escapes jail over fraud |
A high-flying, hard-partying Macquarie Bank manager who committed fraud worth hundreds of thousands of dollars has walked free from a Sydney courtroom.
Michael Roth, 45, spent years deceiving colleagues with a "well-planned, sophisticated and well-hidden" scheme that involved preparing leases for fictitious clients and having invoices paid out to his own bank account.
By the time he was caught, in 2013, Roth was a national manager for the bank's Macquarie Leasing business, and earning $160,000 a year plus commissions.
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But he told the Sydney District Court he was "consumed by alcohol and gambling", and there was now nothing left to show for the hefty sums he siphoned away.
He pleaded guilty early on to 10 fraud offences committed between 2004 and 2012.
Roth was sentenced on Friday to two terms of imprisonment of two years and 18 months each, but Judge Julia Baly ordered that he serve those custodial terms in the community under the strict supervision of NSW Corrective Services.
This means Roth will not see the inside of a jail cell if he remains of good behaviour and complies with other conditions, including a community service order.
"He said he had bad days when he felt worthless, and good days when he felt invincible and untouchable," Judge Baly said.
"He said he got a rush from gambling and it was all that mattered to him during that period of life."
Judge Baly recounted how Roth's former partner believed his crimes stemmed from the "hedonistic Macquarie lifestyle".
It was "a constant frenzy of drinking and mixing with clients", the former partner said.
The judge described how Roth had got "caught up with" a senior manager who drank and gambled at lunchtimes, as others at Macquarie turned a blind eye.
"The behaviour was allowed to continue because they were making so much money for the company," Judge Baly said.
But the judge said there was another side to Roth's offending - his deep depression, his acute anxiety, and his hitherto undiagnosed bipolar disorder - and said she accepted Roth's mental illness helped explain his crimes.
"As his offending went on, it became clear that he could not fix what he had created, and his anxiety grew," she said.
Some nights, Roth would stay up all night gambling, and would not sleep at all.
Roth, who has separated from his long-term partner and is living with his parents in south-west Sydney, must report to police and will not be allowed to leave the state without permission.
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