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CRIME

Gambling banker ‘took €8.4m from customers’

A German bank worker appeared in court this week accused of stealing more than €8 million from customers to feed his gambling addiction.

Gambling banker 'took €8.4m from customers'
Photo: DPA

The 39-year-old who worked in Buxtehude near Hamburg took cash from customers’ accounts 156 times and pocketed money customers gave to him to invest, Stade District Court heard on Monday. In some instances he faked their signatures, prosecutors said.

The sums that disappeared between 2007 and 2010 ranged from several hundred to several hundred thousand euros.

The man allegedly blew much of the missing €8.4 million on online gambling and at a Hamburg casino.

He has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and falsification of documents. If found guilty he could be jailed for several years.

Prosecutors said the man, who has not been named, had already paid back €4.5 million.

His former colleagues will be called as witnesses in the trial to explain how he managed to take such large sums of money for years without being detected.

But his defence lawyers are set to argue that their client was a gambling addict, reducing his level of criminal responsibility.

The trial is set to continue on August 21st with a verdict expected in mid-September.

DPA/The Local/tsb

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BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

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