A WOMAN has admitted embezzling more than £120,000 from her Clydebank energy firm employer days before it went bust, leaving 176,000 customers in the lurch.
She created accounts in the names of her daughter and ex to funnel refunds worth £128,000 to use for holidays and gambling.
And then she went to another company and embezzled again.
Margaret Jacovelli, from Kilwinning, pleaded guilty to taking funds from two employers - the other being in Ayrshire - within the space of six months.
More than £60,000 remains unrecovered.
She has now been warned to get her "affairs in order" ahead of sentencing next month.
The 48-year-old appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on April 13 where she admitted to amended charges.
Her daughter, Chloe Smith, 25, and ex-partner, James Power, 48, were also charged in connection with the case. Their pleas of not guilty were accepted by prosecutors and they left the dock.
Together Energy was founded in Clydebank and employed around 360 people across the UK. In 2022, it became the 26th energy firm to collapse in the face of soaring energy prices .
The firm made a near £4 million loss in the year to October 2020.
In early January 2022, it was reported that the firm could "run out of money" later in the month.
Jacovelli started embezzling four days before Together Energy ceased trading.
She admitted taking £128,000 from the firm, based in Erskine House, Clydebank, in early 2022.
The firm went bust on January 18 and administrators were appointed in February.
Jacovelli had been hired as a senior operational finance assistant in August 2021. She was made redundant on February 28, 2022.
Between January 14 and February 18, she made multiple refunds from Together Energy to an account in the name of her daughter, Chloe Smith, totalling £54,336.16.
Smith had never made a single payment towards the utility company, but her mum had used her email address and phone number to make up an account.
Over a similar period, Jacovelli made 68 payments totalling £74,028.26 to an account in the name of her former partner, James Power. He didn't have an account with Together Energy. She used her company login to set up the account.
Tens of thousands of pounds went between the accounts in Smith's and Power's names back into Jacovelli's.
Administrators later discovered the theft and alerted police.
On April 7, 2022, she started working as an administrative assistant with Hayward Contracts Ltd, a family firm in Stevenston specialising in fencing, metal architecture and fabrication.
She had access to the company bank account to pay supplier invoices as well as company wages.
On July 18, they ended her employment over her "sickness record". She was given a week's notice but never returned.
At the end of August, suppliers got in touch with Hayward, saying invoices hadn't been paid.
Jacovelli had paid herself using customers' names as references so they wouldn't be flagged by the system.
She got 26 payments totalling £19,946.22.
Fiscal depute Maria Murdoch told the court: "It was discovered during the police investigation that during the libel period the accused spent several thousand pounds on holidays abroad as well as online gambling."
Jacovelli, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to embezzling at Together Energy, at her home in Annanhill Place, Kilwinning, and elsewhere. She was originally charged with taking £148,000 but admitted the lower sum of £128,000.
She embezzled between May 4 and July 18 from Hayward Contracts in Stevenston Industrial Estate.
Prosecutors accepted she was not guilty of transferring the money to her daughter and ex-partner, and of receiving stolen funds back from them.
Ms Smith, from Irvine, was not guilty of charges of accepting, having possession of, and transferring the funds to her mother at a property in Kilwinning.
Mr Power was not guilty of accepting more than £94,000 in sums at a property in Inverkip Road, Greenock.
The court heard that some money has been recovered. More than £59,000 was recovered from Jacovelli's Nationwide account.
Another £7,000 was in an account with Ms Smith's name.
And an account in Mr Power's name with £20,000 has been frozen.
Sheriff Maxwell Hendry said that about £61,000 in funds was currently outstanding between the two former employers. There is a potential to reduce that with the frozen funds.
Jacovelli's defence solicitor said: "Clearly she's aware of what she faces."
The sheriff said: "The accused should be putting her affairs in order."
He told her they were "very serious charges and all I can say is every sentencing option will have to be considered".
Sentence was deferred until later in May for reports to be prepared.
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