A New Zealand man who fled to China after millions of dollars were accidentally deposited in his bank account was sentenced Friday to four years and seven months in prison.
Hui “Leo” Gao, dubbed the “accidental millionaire,” and Kara Hurring, his former girlfriend and mother of his child, fled the country in April 2009 after Westpac Bank mistakenly credited his account with $10 million instead of $100,000, TVNZ reported. Gao had applied for an overdraft to keep his struggling business – a BP gas station – afloat.
“A lot of people say: ‘You’re lucky, like winning the lottery’. I say: ‘Nothing worse could happen to you’,” Gao, 31, told The Daily Post.
Gao was caught in December 2011, when he attempted to cross from mainland China into Hong Kong, TVNZ reported. He pleaded guilty to seven charges of theft, totaling almost $6.8 million. About $3.7 million is still missing, and Gao has refused to say what happened to it, The Daily Post said.
“All I can say is I’m not in a position to pay the reparations,” he said, according to The Daily Post.
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