Aaron Weinrib pleads guilty to theft and fraud

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Aaron Weinrib pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to eight sample charges of theft and fraud. The proceedings were reported on 29 October 2013. He was remanded on bail pending sentence. The offences occurred between June and December 2010.

The court heard that Weinrib sold holiday packages to New York, Las Vegas and Cape Town while claiming to be an agent for tour operator Top Flight. The report said he sold bogus packages to 20 people and made €27,600.

Det Garda Conor Bresnan told Michael Bowman, prosecuting, that two men contacted gardaí in November 2010. One had paid €3,200 for four nights for four people at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas; the other paid €550 for two nights in New York. Both received Top Flight documentation but discovered no holidays had been reserved.

Questioned in December 2010, Weinrib admitted taking bank drafts for the holidays. He confirmed they were never booked but said he intended to refund the money and that a planned promotion had snowballed. He admitted never working for Top Flight and forging the documentation. Gardaí found evidence of documents generated with its logo on his computer.

Garda Bresnan agreed with defence counsel that Weinrib co-operated with the investigation and had no previous convictions. He accepted that the offence was uncomplicated and that alerting gardaí was only a matter of time.

Defence counsel said Weinrib had lost his job and used the money to maintain his cocaine lifestyle. Counsel described his behaviour as a head-in-the-sand scenario. Judge Mary Ellen Ring said Weinrib did not seem to be taking seriously that he faced a custodial sentence. She adjourned the case to February for sentence.

This report covers an earlier stage of the case. Later developments are not reported here.