The oldest profession

Prostitution has long been referred to as "the oldest profession". For two Auckland "working girls, it was a pretty good earner too - this from the Herald:

The investment adviser who stole $17.7 million from his wealthy ASB clients called himself "Mr Invincible" when investigators caught up with him.

Stephen Gerard Versalko was sentenced to six years in prison after admitting the case which goes down in history as New Zealand's largest employee theft.

It can also be revealed for the first time that Versalko spent $3.4m of the stolen money on two prostitutes.

Of course, it wouldn't be a proper whodunnit without a twist in the tale (if you'll pardon the expression):

But SFO prosecutor Patrick McCann said Versalko tried to mislead the SFO investigation.

"He deceived the SFO in the identities of the two ladies, gifting them money and describing them initially as ASB clients who had fallen on hard times and who were in dire straits," Mr McCann said.

He said the women had to be identified by the SFO investigators to make sure they were not ASB customers or members of the Versalko family.

Mr Grieve, QC, said the court should also consider that one of the prostitutes had blackmailed Versalko and his family for $1.2m.

It leaves us with two questions - how in the world could anyone blow $3.5 million on prostitutes? And how much did Versalko spend at the New Zealand Men's Clinic?