Failure to carry out checks led to $2m bank losses, County Court told DEFRAUDED banks had only themselves to blame for being duped out of more than $2 million by a former accountant desperate to send his children to a private school, a judge has said. Twice-bankrupted Alan Yudelman, 61, was jailed yesterday for six years for using fake invoices to get bank loans over 7 1/2 years, after he became trapped in a web of debt. County Court judge Paul Lacava said the swindled financial institutions "have only themselves to blame." "A novice making even the crudest of due diligence inquiries into each of your loan applications would have identified each as a deception," the judge told Yudelman. The Caulfield North man applied for loans through finance brokers and used fake invoices to show the money was being spent on business equipment. The judge said Yudelman "robbed Peter to pay back Paul," and ended further in debt. Though he made some repayments, the father of three still owed $1,454,375. "The ultimate victims of course are the shareholders of these financial institutions," Judge Lacava said. Those running these organisations appear to have done very little to protect their interests. He said Yudelman used his experience in the commercial world to exploit a fundamental flaw of these financial institutions - their failure to verify the authenticity of loan documents, particularly where brokers were involved. Judge Lacava noted the scammed money was not used to fund an extravagant lifestyle. "Your priority was to give your children a good Jewish education, which you did, educating them at Mt Scopus College," he said. The South African-born Yudelman pleaded guilty to 14 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception, one of attempting to do so and one of obtaining property by deception. Yudelman's wife and three adult children had been unaware of the fraud, but had since supported him, even giving character references on his behalf. They were present in court yesterday as Yudelman, who spent the past 22 days in custody, was sentenced to a minimum of 3 1/2 years' jail .