Members of Deep Purple did not celebrate when the band's longtime accountant was jailed on charges that he stole from the band's royalty companies for years.
Dipak Rao worked for Deep Purple from 1992 until 2014, when his embezzlement scheme was uncovered. While serving as the head of two companies that managed Deep Purple's royalties, Rao diverted money from the band's earnings into his personal accounts and lost all of his gains in sham investments.
Rao pleaded guilty to two fraud charges and was sentenced to six years and four months in prison. His lawyer said that most of Rao's thefts were ill-fated attempts to replenish his accumulating loses.
"We're not the first and we won't be the last to be misserved by the people we trusted to look after things," drummer Ian Paice told Mirror. "It's sad but it's the world we live in. Somebody else's money is always easier to play with. Justice has been served... or has it?"
Front man Ian Gillan suggested that Rao isn't the first person to steal from the band, and that he probably took more money than the £4 million the band sued him for.
"He's going to do a couple of easy years and then retire to enjoy his spoils," Gillan said. "I take no joy in the fact that he's in jail. But it's karma."
The children of Deep Purple's late-manager Tony Edwards were credited with blowing up Rao's web of lies when they took a more active role in the company following their father's death.
Further evidence against Rao came to light after co-founding guitarist Ritchie Blackmore sued the royalty companies for $750,000 in unpaid royalties around 2016.
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