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Following a grisly trail

Member: Nifa

Following the massacre in Las Vegas last Sunday, there has been huge speculation about the gunman’s motives and attention has turned to his financial history in a bid to find clues. Apparently, Stephen Paddock sent $100,000 to a Philippines bank account days before he carried out his dreadful crime. The account belongs to Paddock’s long-term girlfriend, Marilou Danley and as soon as she returned to the US this week, investigators began their questioning.

There have been a number of other financial transactions in the past three years, including particularly large transactions at casinos that were put on file, as they were for withdrawals or deposits of more than $10,000 in cash. According to local reports, Paddock had gambled at least $160,000 in recent weeks, with 16 separate reports of $10,000 or more being flagged up.

What will no doubt interest forensic accountants is that when he bought his house in 2014, Paddock paid in cash and attributed his income to “gambling”, according to local agents. He also spent a lot of money making the property totally private, which upset his neighbours who signed a petition to get him to take down a solid mesh privacy screen that blocked their views.

No doubt forensic investigators and accountants in the US will be going through every detail of his financial history with a fine-toothed comb, from bank account statements, to interviews with anyone he may have sent cash to, plus trawling through his email and mobile phone history.

Author: Roger Isaacs, 6 October 2017


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