Has my mate got a leg to stand on - abuse of authority?

poppasmurf_bewdley

meer53 wrote: »

The OP says the ex has been withdrawing cash though. Very difficult to trace where thats gone.

That's £40k that's gone missing. £40k leaves a lot of footprints.

meer53

The OP hasn't said where the ex is now ? He has, in effect been withdrawing cash with the OP's friends permission (the letter of authority) the person at fault here is the OP's friend. Sad that he couldn't trust him really but there's no-one else to blame for it being such a large amount.

aktivemac

I'm sorry, but stealing is still stealing whether or not they had your friends authority to access the account.

If the OPs friend had £40k in a shoe box under the bed, he told his ex where it was, and gave them permission to take £10 a week to pay the milkman, then I'm pretty sure the police would be interested if one day they took the entire £40k for themselves! Authority to access the cash or not - they are a thief and the police will (or at least should) investigate!

Paul_01

meer53 wrote: »

The OP hasn't said where the ex is now ? He has, in effect been withdrawing cash with the OP's friends permission (the letter of authority) the person at fault here is the OP's friend. Sad that he couldn't trust him really but there's no-one else to blame for it being such a large amount.

No-one else to blame? Are you for real?

mgdavid

Oh there's always someone else to blame...

:rotfl:

meer53

The same would apply if it was a joint account and one party had been taking money without the others knowledge.

Yes, it's theft, the OP's friend will need to ask the Police to look at interviewing his ex with a view to charging him. His bank have given authority for the ex to withdraw cash, are you telling me that you wouldn't know money was missing from your account ? Especially 40k ? Who else should be monitoring his account ?

The OP says his friend is a soft touch, he needs to toughen up if he wants his money back, he's not going to get it back from the bank.

DCFC79

OMG £40k has gone missing, the friend had some good nights out.

meer53

DCFC79 wrote: »

OMG £40k has gone missing,

Wish i had 40k to miss :eek:

DCFC79

meer53 wrote: »

Wish i had 40k to miss :eek:

Same here :eek:, hope the friend gets it back OP but might be unlucky since the ex had the letter of authority.

alanq

meer53 wrote: »

The same would apply if it was a joint account and one party had been taking money without the others knowledge.

I don't think it would. With a joint account normally the funds are there for either party to do with as they wish. It is not the norm for two signatures to be required on a cheque to approve a transaction.

However, when someone is given Power Of Attorney they are being entrusted to spend the funds as directed by or for the benefit of the account holder. To spend for ones own benefit is theft.

In this case the account holder was not just been unlucky in their choice of person to trust but negligent in failing to cancel the POA and perhaps (depending on how long the withdrawals have been going on) for not checking his balances.

If the withdrawals were made "not using a card or a cheque" how is it known what the money was "all frittered away on"?