The swindling son-in-law of the late High Court Justice Thomas Gall has been sentenced to eight years in jail for conning HK$19 million from six local people, including Gall.
Kevin Slattery, the 45-year-old British broker, was extradited from the United Kingdom late last year and had pleaded guilty to 30 charges including four counts of forgery, 11 counts of evasion of liability by deception and 13 counts of theft.
In passing sentence, justice Louis Tong Po-sun said, "It was not a momentary lapse but calculated and deliberate acts of dishonesty that destroyed his own family."
Sitting in the dock in a blue sweater and hair swept back, a sullen Slattery furrowed his brow and hung his head as the judge listed his victims, citing the amounts of money they lost, noting some had their life savings wiped out so that Slattery could maintain his flamboyant lifestyle.
Slattery was entrusted with money by the Galls after his marriage to their daughter Barbara in 1997.
He got his hands on the late High Court judge's HK$5 million pension in 2001 and another HK$5.78 million from the Gall's Australian assets in 2003.
Gall was also asked by Slattery to guarantee a HK$4.8 million loan in 2005 which tipped Gall off to Slattery's scam when the three-week loan went unpaid.
"He abused the trust of Gall by taking his HK$5 million pension which was earned after his long service to the city; even after Gall was suffering from cancer (Slattery) still took money from him," Tong said.
He also squandered a HK$4 million payout from his wife's personal injury settlement.
He fled Hong Kong in 2005 leaving his wife and 5-year-old son behind. shortly after he informed his wife none of the money had been invested but was used to fuel his lifestyle and debts.
Slattery was chief financial officer of the Henley Group before allegations of his private dealings led to his sacking. Slattery also took money from a former colleague of his ex-wife at the German Swiss School, two lawyers, a business consultant and an investment manager by relying on the weight of his father-in-law's reputation.
In each case, Slattery took money in exchange for promises of high returns or interest rates, reassuring his victims their investments were doing well and stalling at requests for cashouts. The forgery charges stemmed from the use of forged investment statements to back up his claims.
