UBS Director’s Downward Gambling Spiral To Jail

UBS Director’s Downward Gambling Spiral To Jail
Author: A. Mitchell

On April 20th, UBS Securities LLC discharged Shawn Reilly, who at the time was director of the bank’s settlements group in Stamford, Connecticut.

According to his record, the 34 year-old was discharged for “engaging in improper conduct resulting in employee wiring non-customer UBS funds to his personal account and engaging in illegal internet gambling activity while on UBS property.”

Whilst on trial, Shawn Reilly was accused of arranging around 84 fraudulent wire transfers worth over $673,000, to his personal account, much of which was spent on gambling.

During the trial, details of the extent of Shawn Reilly’s gambling addiction were disclosed, which at its peak would result in him spending “8 hours gambling and 2 hours working” while at UBS.

Explaining how he had been struggling to cope with his addiction over the years, Shawn Reilly gave the following insight into his behaviour.

Apparently, after leaving college and working full-time, Mr Reilly would gamble at casinos or on sports through online betting sites, spending up to $200 each day.

However, the past four years then saw his gambling spiral even further out of control, with him betting between $500 and $1,000 on each sports game. In addition, three times a week he would also take part in $500 poker games, and would also often take gambling road trips to such resorts as Atlantic City, Conneticut, New Orleans or Las Vegas.

Each trip would cost him up to $10,000, and as he stated in his letter to the court:

“The progressive deterioration was so intense that I was sleeping on 2-3 hours a night several times a week so I could stay at card games to fuel my need to be in action.”

Pleading guilty to one count of bank fraud at his trial, Mr Reilly has now received a 33 months prison sentence, a subsequent three years of supervision on release, as well as being ordered to repay the stolen $673,447.47 of company money.

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