Executive stole £650,000 from Universal Music
A record label executive today admitted stealing almost £650,000 from Universal Music – home to U2 and Prince. Duncan Schwier, 52, swindled the world’s largest musical corporation with false invoices for more than a decade, Hammersmith Magistrates Court heard.
He said a ‘series’ of cancers were the ‘background’ for his crimes. The con only came to light when Schwier was promoted and his successor raised the alarm after noticing scores of invoices paid to non-existent companies.
Schwier of Twickenham, west London, remained calm as he entered his guilty plea, telling the court: ‘The background for this is a series of cancers for which I have medical reports.’
Prosecutor Caroline Mungal said: ‘The Crown invite the court to commit this matter for sentence.
‘You can see the value of the monies involved, in excess of £600,000.
‘The date range is long, the range of the offending.
‘What has happened in this situation is that Mr Schwier was employed by Universal Music as head of production.’
Miss Mungal said Schwier had worked with Universal since 1984.
‘He was promoted in early 2013. Mr Schwier moved and his replacement was a person by the name of John Clifford.
‘He noticed there was something strange about some of the transactions.
‘It was discovered that in fact there were a large number for fraudulent transactions.’
The fraud amounted to £643.697.35, the court was told.
Chair of the bench, Paul Brooks told Schwier: ‘Although you have pleaded guilty to this offence, the amount of money and the period over which this fraud took place means this is too serious for this court to deal with.’
Schwier admitted one charge of theft by employee.
He was released on unconditional bail ahead of sentence at Isleworth Crown Court on 30 September
Source: Daily Mail
