High-rolling gambler used fake passports to travel
By Geoff Wilkinson - Herals Sun (VIC Metropolitan, 5 July 2006)
A ROGUE solicitor who stole from clients to feed his gambling addiction turned over $13 million at casinos in four years, the Supreme Court was told yesterday.
High-roller Gabriel Werden used passports with false names and his own face to return to Australia undetected several times during 3 1/2 years on the run.
Werden's barrister, Mark Regan, said his client fled Australia in 2000 with huge debts to casino loan sharks and in fear of his life.
He taught English in Lebanon while a fugitive, got involved in property development there and spent time in London and New Zealand.
Mr Regan said Werden's "astronomical losses" had cost him his legal practice, his home, his marriage and his credibility. He had suffered an extreme degree of shame and remorse.
Prosecutor Michele Williams put a different view to the pre-sentence hearing before Justice Bernard Teague.
"This is a man who . . . when he's on the verge of getting caught, he runs," she said.
She said Werden had absconded on bail in Queensland and escaped from police custody in Western Australia and New South Wales.
There was no evidence of threats or intimidation against Werden, and he had refused to be interviewed by Victorian major fraud group detectives.
The court was told Werden owed authorities 2 1/2 years' jail in Queensland and the same in WA for parole breaches.
Werden, 40, pleaded guilty yesterday to seven counts of theft, three of obtaining financial advantage by deception and one of having a deficiency in his trust account.
Most of the stolen money was used to buy gambling chips at casinos in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane.
Justice Teague was told that between May 1997 and March 1998 Werden had a total deficiency of $1,104,729 in his trust account.
Mr Regan said Werden's gambling "spiralled out of control completely" during the first three months of 1998.
During that period cheques and cash totalling $3,303,500 were deposited in his account at Crown casino, with a net loss of $1,204,254.
Mr Regan said that represented only what went through Werden's account, and "the actual amount, including cash, was much higher".
He said Werden started gambling in 1994 when a client took him to the original Crown casino. By the nest year he was gambling hundreds of thousands of dollars on baccarat. He owed large amounts to loan sharks who frequented the casino and said their high interest rates were "killing him".
Mr Regan said that in 1997 Werden was stunned by the murder of a close gambling associate, George Marcus.
He said Werden was one of the last people to speak to Marcus, who was in debt to the same people owed money by Werden.
Werden left Melbourne in March 1998 and later served 18 months' jail in WA for fraud. He was last arrested in May 2004, when he tried to re-enter Australia and was detained at Sydney airport over a passport irregularity.
He then served 12 months in NSW for passport offences, spent 122 days on remand in Queensland and, for 317 days, has been on remand after being extradited to Victoria.
Justice Teague said there had been claims of $1.8 million against the legal profession's Fidelity Fund, and about $600,000 admitted. He remanded Werden to be sentenced at a date to be fixed. | End |
