MAN WHO STOLE $200K IN CRYPTO FROM BOSS AVOIDS JAIL SENTENCE

A MIDLAND office administrator who stole almost £200,000 in cryptocurrency from his boss and his wife to fund his gambling addiction has been given a suspended jail sentence.

- ADAM DUTTON News Reporter

Ben Noden, 38, was working as a roofer when he was asked by his employer Peter Round, 68, to help manage his cryptocurrency trades online in November 2020.

But a court heard he transferred thousands of pounds from his bank account and used the crypto earnings to fund his gambling addiction.

Around a year later Mr Round and his wife Monica Davies discovered the valuable portfolio they had built up over several years had disappeared and called in the police.

Detectives found Noden had swindled the pair out of £198,387 worth of savings between January 2021 until January 2022.

During that time he had been gifted a car by Mr Round as well as other “expensive gifts” after being “welcomed into the family” by the couple.

Noden, of Shipston-upon-Stour, Warkwickshire pleaded guilty to theft and fraud at Redditch Justice Centre.

He was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years and ordered to undertake a 25 day rehabilitation requirement at Worcester Crown Court.

Sentencing, Recorder James Hay said: “No sentence I pass today is ever going to return the significant amount of money that you stole from Peter Round and Monica Davies during that time.

“Around November 2020 you had been employed by Mr Round to control the computer side of his business. He placed a great degree of trust in you.