Ex-Deloitte IT manager remanded for stealing firm’s laptops to fund stock trading

Ho Man-kit, 40, admits selling 423 laptops to recycler and ploughing more than HK$458,000 he received into failed stock options

A former Deloitte information technology (IT) manager has been remanded in custody pending sentence for stealing 423 laptops from the accounting firm’s Hong Kong office over 17 months to fund his stock trading addiction.

Ho Man-kit, 40, pleaded guilty to a count of theft at the District Court on Tuesday, after he misappropriated the Lenovo computers worth HK$1.2 million (US$153,000) and sold them to an electronics recycler between September 2021 and February 2023.

Under caution, Ho said he had lost all illegal proceeds through unsuccessful stock trading and that he was still in debt.

The crime came to light after an IT engineer discovered a shortfall of 399 laptops at Deloitte’s office at Cityplaza in Quarry Bay on February 13, 2023.

The engineer and an administrative officer reviewed live surveillance camera footage and found that the defendant, who was supposedly on leave, had attempted to sell a box of 15 laptops to a recycler at around 7.30pm on the same day. The pair immediately intervened to call off the transaction.

Ho confessed his wrongdoing to his supervisor at a meeting two days later and surrendered himself to police that afternoon.