Trial in Feldkirch

Chairwoman diverted club funds to her own account

Gambling addiction had driven a woman (55) from the Unterland region into crime. She had to answer to the Feldkirch Regional Court for helping herself to the club's funds. 

She was upright, had a good job at the bank, no family problems and had been a volunteer at a childcare association in the Unterland region since 2006. Now the 55-year-old is facing a shambles.

Her job and severance pay are gone and her marriage is on the rocks. Now the woman from Unterland is even facing a criminal record for embezzlement. In yesterday's trial at the regional court in Feldkirch, the previously blameless woman is fighting back tears. Her gambling addiction led her to commit the crimes, she told the judge.

Club funds went into private account
In her role as club chairwoman, the accused had repeatedly transferred money to her private account or that of a sports betting provider over a period of ten years - in order to finance her gambling addiction.

The woman underwent therapy, but in the end 40,000 euros were still missing from the club's coffers. Her guilty conscience finally drove her to come clean. So she resigned from her position as chairwoman.

She told her successor in a one-on-one meeting about the machinations and then paid back the embezzled money in two installments. Judge Marco Mazzia gave the defendant credit for this. Only shortly after her confession at the time, the bank filed a suspicious activity report for money laundering.

The non-final sentence: six months' suspended imprisonment and a fine of 2,400 euros.