Home Scandal and Gossip Married man leading double life steals $680K to impressive his object of...

Married man leading double life steals $680K to impressive his object of desire.

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He was an ex bookkeeper but in the end he had everyone believing he was a PHd trained economist from London University with the big bucks. Welcome to the ‘fantastical life of Tony Billings that has now gone up completely in smoke…

Who can be quite sure what Tony Billings was thinking when he began purporting to friends and acquaintances that he was other than who he really was? One can imagine it began with small white lies, him constantly picking up dinner tabs, the new fast car until one day it morphed into him running a mid level multinational sporting company into the ground after conning them to bring him on as their director where he ultimately embezzled funds to the tune of $680 000 and that’s not including investors he duped out of their savings.

But why? According to court filings this week it all had to do with his courtship of the women of his dreams, never mind that he was married. And what a courtship it was…

Dubbed Dr Billings his courtship of a local hairdresser included lavishing her with treats, jewellery, cases of champagne and toys for her children. He even gave her $140,000 to pay her divorce settlement and took her to New York and Sri Lanka  – giving her $1000-a-month to be his ‘research assistant’.

Research assistant? I’m sure the shareholders must have wondered what exactly she was researching? But what’s a few thousand to make sure your CEO has all the ‘vital’ information necessary to make a well informed decision on his adulterous behavior…?

Blasted Judge Michael Pert QC: ‘You’re a thief. You lived a lie, sitting in an office with plaques and awards and Financial Times articles on the wall and certificates of academic excellence – all lies’.

Tony Billing’s double life began to fall apart in early 2010 when staff started complaining of not being paid for months at a time. He would then make up grand excuses about cash flow shortages, his father passing away, all the while maintaining his own lavish existence to the disbelief of employees.

Mr Billings is due to be sentenced for theft and embezzlement this coming week. Ultimately one has to wonder how Mr Billings insisted on living this double life to the disadvantage of company employees, his wife who has stood by him and the perverse notion that if he could just make this fantastical existence pass muster he would finally woo his fantasy woman. Until the law finally caught up that is…

dailymail.co.uk

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