Bermuda: Attorney jailed for stealing US$50K

CMC – A judge has described as a “villain” and attorney whom he sentenced to five years imprisonment for dishonestly obtaining a US$50,000 money transfer from a client between January and July 2016.

Attorney Nancy Vieira, 45,  was further convicted of stealing US$28,615 from the client through unauthorised ATM withdrawals and US$7,601 through unauthorised debit card transactions between August 2015 and October 2016.

The jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict on all three counts after about five hours of deliberation

Puisne Judge, Juan Wolffe, said that Kirsten Badenduck, who died in 2019, took Vieira as a “knight in shining armour” when she employed her to see after her affairs.

“However, the evidence in this case showed that the defendant exploited the good nature of Ms Badenduck and the disorganised state of Ms Badenduck’s financial affairs.

“Rather than be the saviour Ms Badenduck needed, the defendant turned out to be the villain. One can only imagine the emotional and mental anguish that Ms Badenduck must have went through in the final years of her life.”

The judge said Vieira was someone whome she trusted, “and her devastation upon learning what the defendant did to her must have been deeply and profoundly heartbreaking”.

The Court heard that Badenduck was an insurance executive who became a champion for the disabled after a 2002 traffic collision left her confined to a wheelchair.

In June 2015, Vieira had been tasked with terminating a caregiver suspected of stealing from Badenduck and assisting police with their investigation.

Vieira’s employer at the time, Jaqueline MacLellan, said she understood that the work was completed in early 2016, but Badenduck contacted her in November that year to complain about Vieira.

Among the complaints, Badenduckmade was that she had loaned Vieira US$50,000 to help her to secure a junior partnership at the firm MacLellan and Associates.

But MacLellan said she had never discussed partnership with Vieira and had no intention of doing so.

Vieira was terminated, but in December 2016 she returned to MacLellan and Associates to deliver bank drafts for US$25,000 and US$15,000 intended to repay part of the loan and cover cash withdrawals for tasks that she did not complete.

Prosecutor Nicole Smith told the court that Vieira was an “insidious rogue” who had committed an egregious and disgraceful breach of trust.

“The defendant went and committed the very offence she was supposed to protect and guard against for the benefit of her client,” she said, recommending a sentence of no less than five years for the charge related to the US$50,000 money transfer, along with sentences of four years and three years for the stealing offences.

The prosecution had called for the sentences to run consecutively.

Vieira, who maintained her innocence, expressed regret and remorse, adding “I have lost everything.

“Everything I have worked for, the years I put into my career, reputation, trust, friends, even family and this has had a huge impact on my family relationships,” she said. Telling the court she wished she had had the opportunity to sit with Badenduck to explain what had happened before she had died.

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