A cleaning manager at Blackrock’s City headquarters who orchestrated a £170,000 bogus overtime scam to bankroll his holidays has been jailed for three years.
Hoover Yasno-Moreno, 36, abused his position to alter bank details on the payroll system of Facilicom Cleaning Services Ltd, funnelling money into his own account.
Yasno-Moreno invented overtime claims to maximise the profits of his scam, and used a string of associates to try to hide the fraudulent payments.
City of London Police said Yasno-Moreno, formerly of Camberwell, southeast London, had used the money to pay for a house he was buying in Colombia, as well as a series of foreign holidays.
He was jailed for three years on Tuesday at Inner London crown court, after admitting fraud and two money laundering charges.
“Yasno-Moreno had access to systems which allowed him to change payroll details for individual employees and he did so on many occasions without those individuals realising until they hadn’t received their wages,” said Detective Constable John Quayle.
“To put it simply, Yasno-Moreno was greedy and thought he could get away with pocketing thousands of pounds. But he was caught out and will now pay for his greed with time behind bars.”
The fraud took place between 2017 and 2018 at Blackrock’s UK headquarters in Throgmorton Avenue, where Facilicom was the cleaning contractor.
Yasno-Moreno, a contracts manager, was in charge of staff recruitment and overtime claims, and used his position to divert wages into his own bank account.
Fake overtime claims were submitted for genuine cleaning company employees as well as bogus workers.
The fraud was uncovered when one of the genuine workers complained about not being paid, and an internal audit revealed incorrect bank details on the system as well as excessive overtime claims made in his name.
In total, the details of eight employees had been tampered with by Yasno-Moreno.
Julian Giraldo Martinez, 39, of Norwood Road, West Norwood, admitted allowing Yasno-Moreno to use his bank details for one payment in the fraud, and was sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge with £200 in costs.
Cosme Soto Jaramillo, 45, of Millender Walk, South Bermondsey, admitted knowledge of four payments through his account, and was sentenced to a 12-month community order, with 40 hours of unpaid work and £200 in costs.
John Jairo Diaz Zapata, 41, of Halsmere Road, Camberwell, who was a genuine employee of the cleaning company, admitted money laundering and was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 12 months, with 120 hours of unpaid work and £400 in costs.
Esefania Toro Arroyave, 30, of Archer Street, Soho, admitted receiving £14,886 through her bank account. She was sentenced to a 12-month community order and with £150 in costs.
