Woman imprisoned for fraud

26/06/2012

A woman has been sentenced to 27 months imprisonment after de-frauding a North London travel agents of up to £140,000.

37 year old Neolita Ortega worked as a travel consultant at Gifto Travel Limited in Euston. In her role she was tasked with taking customers' payments and buying flights for them. However, she actually stole the money, paying it into her own account.  She then backfilled the hole in the accounts by cancelling the flights, then buying the flight again nearer the time of travel, when the ticket was then more expensive.

In total she stole between £110,000 - £140,000 and caused a loss of £70,000 to the company.

Ortega admitted the offence when she appeared at Blackfriars Crown Court on 18 May 2012. However she pleaded on the basis that she had only stole around £15,000. It wasn't until sentencing on 26 June 2012 that she admitted the full offence.

CPS London lawyer Robert Hutchinson said:

"Neolita Ortega ruthlessly exploited her employers' trust over a period of four years, to plunder client funds in order to afford a lifestyle her real income would never have afforded. 

"She cynically maintained up until the last minute that she had only gained £15,000 and only came clean today that she amassed as much as £140,000, nearly bankrupting the small family-run firm who had employed her for the previous six years."