Australian Police Raid Bookie's Penthouse

AUSTRALIA – As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald: "At 10.30am yesterday, the multimillion-dollar penthouse of Australia's biggest bookmaker, Mark Read, had some unexpected visitors: five detectives armed with a search warrant.

"A few blocks away in the Melbourne CBD and at exactly the same time, eight detectives walked into the headquarters of Mr Read's IASbet on the 33rd floor of Australia's tallest building, the Rialto Tower. Not much later, police searched the offices of IASbet's online betting agency in Darwin.

"Their mission was to trace $19 million(US$14.77 million) stolen by a pathetic and compulsive punter, Kim David Faithfull, while he was manager of the Commonwealth Bank in Karratha, a mining town about 4000 kilometres away in Western Australia's Pilbara.

"…The Melbourne raids were led by West Australian detectives who arrested Faithfull in August after he admitted stealing $19 million, which he bet with IASbet.

"…For five years, Faithfull, 36, used a bank computer to transfer the stolen money to an IASbet betting account in Darwin, gambling up to $400,000 a week in a desperate attempt to recoup his huge losses…"

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