It’s every boss’s nightmare: to discover that a trusted member of your staff was surreptitiously stealing millions of dollars from your company. That’s what happened to Besim Halef, the founder and CEO of BANC Group, one of Halifax’s biggest property developers. He had employed Sherri Lamarche, now a convicted criminal, as a bookkeeper for 15 years.
Turns out Sherri Lamarche had a gambling problem. At first she stole small chunks from her boss, sums under $10,000. But the amounts grew. She cultivated a taste for travel. She visited Uganda, Tanzania and Thailand. She took cruises. She upgraded her car. And spent hundreds of thousands of dollars a year gambling. The story of her long con—and how she was ultimately caught—is a riveting tale of deception and manipulation by Sarah Treleaven, published in the August issue of Maclean’s. The story also provides a fascinating window into the world of gambling addiction and the imperfect ways people cope with being caught.
—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief
