A former paralegal who "obliterated" her reputation stealing more than $1.5 million from a law firm will spend at least two years and nine months behind bars.
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Athena Razos was working at Moray & Agnew in Melbourne between 2013 and 2017 where she created dodgy documents and made more than 100 fraudulent payments from the firm's trust accounts.
The payments culminated in her stealing $1.569 million from the firm, which she later blamed on spiralling debt after she bought a home at Box Hill, in Melbourne's east.
"Had the house not happened, it would not have happened," she later told a doctor.
But County Court of Victoria Judge John Kelly on Friday found Razos's offending pre-dated her buying the property.
Her deception grew from stealing about $74,000 in 2013, to about $590,000 in 2016, he said.
Razos was on track to "eclipse" her previous hauls by 2017 but only managed to steal another $555,000 before she was caught.
"(Your offending) was protracted and vicious, and deeply exploitative of your employer's trust," Judge Kelly said.
"Your offending persevered for over four years. It was not merely a lapse of judgment."
A psychiatrist diagnosed Razos with major depressive disorder and anxious distress, mental health issues the judge found had lowered her moral culpability.
However, he noted the former paralegal was undeterred from reoffending.
It was her third time sentenced for betraying an employer, with the most recent in 2009 after she forged her husband's signature and transferred their property into her name alone.
She accessed his superannuation account, forged a police officer's signature, wrote a number of bogus cheques and used knowledge she gained through work to file fraudulent forms in that case, the judge said.
Razos said she was banned from working at law firms after her latest thefts, which amounted to "extra-curial punishment" alongside media coverage about her case.
But the judge rejected that, saying she knew when she stole once again she risked obliterating her professional reputation.
"That is what has happened," Judge Kelly said.
"Your fall from grace has been complete."
Razos paid back about $1.1 million of the money she stole before she was charged, and agreed to pay back the rest, the court was told.
Justice Kelly sentenced her to five years and three months in prison.
She will be eligible for parole after serving two years and nine months behind bars.
Australian Associated Press
