Emma Hunt faces a jail term when she is sentenced (Picture: Alan McEwan)
An office manager who stole more than £900,000 from her employers to fund a luxury lifestyle – including VIP days out at top sporting events and five-star holidays – is facing jail.
Emma Hunt, 37, fleeced McLean Properties, based in Edinburgh, by diverting rent payments into her own account, allowing her to live like a millionaire on a £26,000 a year wage.
She used the money to treat pals to VIP days out at the Six Nations and Scottish Open golf championship, take her mum on an all-inclusive Caribbean holiday, and buy high-end clothes.
Hunt also paid nearly £40,000 to host a Halloween party at a 16th century castle in East Lothian for 80 guests, Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told.
Her scam was rumbled when a tenant contacted the firm to query a request that they make rent payments to a new account.
An investigation revealed huge sums in rent was being paid into an account controlled by Hunt.
During her trial, she callously lied that one of the bosses, who has since passed sway, let her have the money in exchange for not telling anyone he was putting prostitutes up in flats.
A source said: ‘Hunt is a fantasist but she is also very clever. The way she was able to keep this fraud from being discovered for such a long time shows she knew what she was doing.’
She was convicted of embezzling £899,164.77 between 2016 and 2019. Hunt, who now lives in London, was also found guilty of fraud and transferring some of the criminal funds to her brother.
The court heard the con started shortly after she began working as an office manager in 2016.
Jurors were given a document cataloguing how Hunt blew the cash.
She spent £39,244 on a Halloween bash for around 80 people at the 16th century Fenton Tower, near North Berwick, in 2018.
In 2016, she booked a birthday party for herself and 19 others at Musselburgh Racecourse in East Lothian for £3,000.
She also paid more than £6,000 in 2017 and again in 2018 on hospitality for 20 people on Ladies’ Day at the same racecourse.
Hunt also paid £300 per head for 12 pals to enjoy hospitality packages at the Scottish Open.
She paid £7,180 for 10 friends to enjoy a similar experience at Murrayfield Stadium for the Scotland v England Six Nations clash.
At least £23,219 was spent on accommodation at a string of top hotels across Edinburgh between 2016 and 2019.
Jurors were also told about holidays Hunt lavished on herself, including the Caribbean trip with her mum between December 31, 2018, and January 10, 2019, which cost £7944.
In 2016, Hunt paid £19,500 for a new Audi S1 Quattro which she traded in for a BMW M2. She also spent £6730.05 at the Louis Vuitton fashion house.
Hunt also sent £91,596 in 45 separate transactions to her brother’s farming contracting business.
Sheriff John Mundy deferred sentence for reports.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
