Another Victim of the Accountant Drive-by

[Nickdfresh]

Rolling Stone (http://movies.yahoo.com/news/u2-bassist-adam-clayton-testifies-against-former-personal-135518725.html) – Fri, Jun 22, 2012 9:55 AM EDT


U2 bassist Adam Clayton has testified against a former personal assistant accused of stealing millions from him, reports the BBC. Carol Hawkins is accused of embezzling 2.8 million euros, or around $3.5 million, from Clayton from 2004 to 2008, and she faces 181 counts of theft.

Clayton was questioned in court on his working relationship with Hawkins, confirming she was a signatory on two of his bank accounts. Hawkins worked for Clayton for 16 years, and was originally employed by him alongside her husband until their separation in 2007.

Clayton revealed to the jury that Hawkins admitted in 2008 to burning through 13,000 to 15,000 euros – approximately $16,300 to $18,800 – on his account to visit her children in the U.S. and London.

Though Clayton later removed Hawkins from his accounts, he kept her on board as an employee. "In the matter of the money, I accepted she was a distressed woman. Her marriage broke up, her children had gone away," he said. "She had my absolute trust. We had been together a long time – working together. She had been very conscientious . . . I felt she looked after my money and on many occasions accused others of being greedy, so I was extremely surprised."

[FORD]

Well, that explains the need for the super-ultra pricy deluxe "Achtung Baby" remaster..... Adam needed the money.

At least he got rid of the batshit crazy Naomi Campbell. :biggrin:

[ELVIS]

A bass player who thinks he needs an assistant deserves to be ripped off...

[FORD]

I dunno.... maybe if Paul McCartney had an assistant, he could have avoided his second wife. Who took him for more than a crooked accountant ever could.

And if Bill Wyman had an assistant, that person might have checked the ID of girls who wanted to meet him, and thus avoided the whole Mandy Smith fiasco.

[Seshmeister]

At least she would have paid some sales tax with the embezzled money.

That's the only way any of Clayton's money was going to go near to tax.

[Nitro Express]

He should have just set up a working account and not given the assistant any access to more money than needed.

[LoungeMachine]

See Also: Pearl Jam

:gulp:

[Nickdfresh]

And Sting, Billy Joel, and a shitload of musicians raped by their accounting and personal staff...

[ELVIS]

Ted Nugent

Jimi Hendrix

Elvis

Michael Anthony


The list goes on and on...

[FORD]

Michael Anthony?

Last I heard, he was doing pretty well financially. Don't know the specifics, but apparently he got some good investment advice, and it probably didn't have anything to do with hot sauce or his buddy's tequila company.

Hell, the guy got publishing royalties for years on songs he never actually wrote. Can't get a better deal than that!

As for Jimi.... he probably got ripped off, just like 90% of the artists in the 60s did. And Colonel Parker probably made more money off of Elvis than Elvis himself, while he was still on this planet enjoying his PB & Banana sandwiches. No question that both of those guys have sold more records dead than alive.

[ELVIS]

The Van Halens fucked Michael Anthony out of a lot of money...

[Nitro Express]

The thing about coming into a lot of money is it just creates problems some people don't know how to handle or are incapable of handling. You have to stay on top of your finances when it's your money. Don't keep it in one basket and don't have one person managing it all for you.

Determine what your average working expenses are, set up an account to cover those and then give the manager access to the working account but never more money than that.

One city in Illinois was dumb enough to have the treasurer and the comptroller be the same person. She stole millions. She had several horse ranches and a million dollar motor home when her salary was $80,000 a year. She finally got caught. Even cities are this poorly ran. It's supposed to be the treasurer handles the money and the comptroller audits what the treasurer does.

It boils down to if you don't watch your money yourself someone will steal it from you. Especially now when financial institutions can steal from your account and the politicians do nothing about it.

[sadaist]

The Van Halens fucked Michael Anthony out of a lot of money...


Deserved money? Earned money? Or just hitching his wagon to the right horses money?

[Nitro Express]

The Van Halens fucked Michael Anthony out of a lot of money...

The band split everything four ways. The money is in publishing. Eddie and Dave could have taken more than Mike and Al got in the early days. I think it was that way until Ray Daniels came into the band and got inside Alex and Eddie's drunken and stoned heads. Mike had a good deal for years. I think it just boils down to Ed wanted his son in and Mike was the expendable one. But then maybe it wouldn't have happened if Mike didn't hang with Sammy. If anything Ed had the excuse to cut Michael Sobowleski loose because of his Sammy love.

[sadaist]

It's pretty cool that Adam was willing to overlook the initial theft he discovered chalking it up to bad situations leading to bad decisions.

[ODShowtime]

Ah the old fraud triangle. The most important side is opportunity.

[Seshmeister]

Ted Nugent



That's cheered me up.

[Nickdfresh]

That's cheered me up.

Well, he did steal a girlfriend/adopted daughter from her cradle...