Elijah Taylor on forgiving manager who stole $400,000

Josh McAllister 07 Apr 2022 12:02 PM

Elijah Taylor has opened up on forgiving his manager who stole $400,000 from his personal bank account across several years.

Taylor, 32, has discussed the horrific experience on the latest episode of Out Of Your League Podcast.

The former New Zealand international discovered his player-manager Ian Miles had misappropriated $400,000 (£211,000) from his personal bank account over the course of his career.

Taylor discovered 937 unauthorised transactions from Miles that went towards holidays and presents.

A ‘father-like’ figure to Taylor, the former NRL man knew Miles from a young age and had trusted him with financial decisions. Despite the crime, the Salford skipper said his faith has helped him move on from the experience.

Elijah Taylor on Out Of Your League Podcast

Speaking on the latest episode of the Out Of Your League Podcast, Taylor said: “I knew him at 16-years-old at New Zealand Warriors.

“From 2007 all the way up to 2016, we built a really strong relationship. I texted and called him every day. If I didn’t make the international team or got dropped from NRL, I’d ring him up crying. A lot of people don’t understand the context of the relationship and why I allowed him access to my bank accounts.

“I moved to Penrith. We had a joint account just to help me save and to give me financial advice and just help me make correct financial decisions because I came from a background where we lived cheque to cheque.”

Taylor: ‘The only thing I could come up with was forgiving him’

He continued: “I got a budget of $4,000 a month and I was happy with that. I decided to pay my rent, get my food and play my footy. It’s probably the first time discipline has actually cost me because I’m not a punter and I hardly went out with the boys.

“I focused on playing footy the best I could. I got my $4,000 and the rest was for mortgages and investments and I didn’t look at that.

“In 2016, I got a letter from the people we had a mortgage with and they said I’m behind on my payments. I went to the bank and you know those days in your life that you’ll never forget, that’s the day I’ll never forget.

“I went to the bank and I saw the transactions going into his account and his holidays.

“Personally, I was in disbelief. I didn’t believe it. I saw transactions for like $20,000 and I saw the total figure and I was just like ‘wow’. The crazy thing is, I cut access to the cards and his online banking and I haven’t heard from him since.

“The only remedy I could find because it used to beat me up the more I thought about it and talking about it got me down. The only thing I could come up with was forgiving him.

“My faith kicked in. It was extremely hard to do. The sense of relief I was looking for was to just saying I forgive you and go my own way now.”