An accountant accused of defrauding her employers of more than $700,000 said she believes the complaint arose because her boss wanted her house.

Bambi Lee Pimental, 54, said that throughout her time at JW Gray and Co, Jonathan Gray had repeatedly asked her about her property, telling her that he wanted to buy it if she wanted to sell it.

She added that she watched him look up the property’s annual rental value online and, on two occasions, she found him on her property looking at the house.

“He was always inquiring about the house, walking on my property at his leisure with my ‘no trespassing’ sign on the pillar,” she said.

“I don’t know how many times he has done that. I caught him twice.”

Ms Pimental added that a day after she was confronted about the alleged theft, Mr Gray called her and asked for the deeds to her house.

She told the court that when she said no, he told her he wanted the deeds to her condo, but she said the condo did not belong to her.

“I can only assume from all of that his intention was to get my house from me,” she said.

However, in cross-examination she accepted that Mr Gray had not been asked about any conversations about the house while she worked at the company or the incidents in which she claims she found him on her property, but maintained that she did not make it up.

“The conversations happened and I based my opinion that he wanted the house on that,” she said. “He said he wanted the house.”

Ms Pimental has denied three counts of theft, fraudulent false accounting and using criminal property while subcontracted by JW Gray and Co between June 2016 and June 2020.

Todd Boyd, an accountant who investigated Ms Pimental’s transactions, told the jury on Thursday that the cash going into Ms Pimental’s three accounts did not match the amount of money she should have been making.

He added that many transfers were either listed as happening before the date of their actual transfer or after, with two being listed as taking place in 2014 when Ms Pimental did not start until 2016.

Among the charges, Mr Boyd noted that $27,512 had been paid to Disney Resorts in five instalments in 2019, while another $11,828 was given to Smith and Wick, a boating equipment company in Florida.

During her third day of taking the stand in her defence, Ms Pimental disputed the claim as “inaccurate,” arguing that Mr Boyd treated her starting salary as the “rule of thumb” and not taking into account any changes.

She also said that Mr Gray was not honest about the amount that she worked and that Mr Boyd did not have the complete story.

Ms Pimental added: “[Mr Gray] withheld information, he withheld my invoices and he was not honest with the work I was doing.

“I was always doing more than one thing — maybe three things at a time.”

Ms Pimental said that the money spent at Disney was a nine-person holiday that she organised to celebrate her 50th birthday.

She said it was the first holiday she had taken in 11 years and that she took it on a weekend to make sure she was still available for JW Gray and Co.

Ms Pimental added that the transfer to Smith and Wick was made on behalf of the company because she could not send it through the business’s account.

She said that in June 2020 Mr Gray called her to a meeting where he confronted her about the alleged theft.

“It was a direct confrontation, an intimidating confrontation,” she said. “As he was talking to me, he walked over to me, to my right side and stood over me and would not let me touch my papers.”

Ms Pimental said that when Mr Gray accused her of overpaying herself, the only thing that she could think of was a series of four or five “loans” that she had made which had an outstanding balance of just over $20,000.

“He did make a comment about hundreds of thousands of dollars, how it would take years to pay off,” she said. “I cannot remember my answer but it was sarcastic.”

She said that when Mr Gray later said that she owed $150,000 or $180,000, she did not understand how the amount was so high but accepted it at the time.

“I thought it has to be true,” she said. “I knew I hadn’t repaid my loans so I knew I owed that.

“Why would he confront me saying I owed that amount of money if I didn’t owe it?”

However, she told the court that Mr Gray actually owed her money.

Questioned in cross-examinations about the loans, she maintained that Mr Gray had given her permission to take the money.

“I had permission because he offered and said on about three occasions, after discussing matters that were happening, if I ever need any money, if I need anything he was there for me,” she said.

When prosecutors suggested that it could not be a loan if she did not receive specific permission to take the money, Ms Pimental replied: “We can talk in circles, but that is my viewpoint.”

The trial continues.

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