How Brown’s banker lost £1m

Gordon Brown's appointment of former Goldman Sachs director Jennifer Moses to the No 10 Policy Unit has raised eyebrows among colleagues. Not because Moses is a former director of the lingerie firm Agent Provocateur, but because she is one half of a golden City couple who were famously robbed of £1m by a secretary at Goldman Sachs.

In April 2004, Joyti De-Laurey was convicted of embezzling £1m over a period of 14 months from the couple's private bank account and spending it on luxury cars, property abroad, and diamonds. When police arrested her, they found her home littered with unopened boxes of Cartier jewellery and more than 40 designer handbags.

What made the headlines was that American-born Moses and husband Ron Beller, who share a Georgian mansion in Hampstead, were so rich they never even realised it was happening.

The trial exposed an extravagant lifestyle: Beller, also a Goldman Sachs banker, admitted he had spent £86,000 on personal travel in a year, and more than £17,000 on wine.

Moses will have an office inside Number Ten where she is expected to have a wide-ranging brief to advise Brown on social policy. A spokesman said: "She will not be receiving a salary".

Which is a shame given that husband Ron coincidentally has had a bit of a financial setback. Beller is co-founder of the hedge fund Peloton which, after a spectacular 2007, when it was voted 'New Fund of the Year', collapsed last week, causing Beller to lose half of his $80m fortune.

What became of De-Laurey? She was sentenced to seven years in jail but was released early last year.