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Legal
Former PA convicted for stealing from U2 bassist
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 3 July 2012
The former personal assistant of U2’s Adam Clayton has been found guilty of embezzling 2.8 million euros of the bassist’s money to fund a lavish lifestyle. Carol Hawkins was convicted of no less than 181 counts of theft in a Dublin court last week (it took 25 minutes to deliver a verdict on each), after helping herself to her employer’s money over a four year period.
Hawkins had worked for the U2 man for seventeen years, initially as a housekeeper but, eventually, as a PA, and had won his complete trust, the court was told, leading to her becoming a signatory on his bank accounts. That she had been abusing that trust first came to light when Clayton discovered his PA had booked up to 15,000 euros worth of flights on his account to visit family members in the US and London.
Subsequent investigations revealed she had spent hundreds of thousands of euros belonging to Clayton on holidays, designer clothes, cars and education for her children, and no less than 22 horses.
Hawkins will be sentenced on Friday.