Did LF steal from the Iron Throne?

[Gneisenau]

I'm too cynical to think otherwise. Considering Baelish's aims of rising high, he almost surely took the job to make a fortune from it. And he's very well off by the time Ned arrives in KL. Probably the brothels were an 'honest' business where few questions were asked and he could blackmail customers if they got too nosy or accused him of anything illegal, like money laundering. In real life, many people take public jobs to get rich. This is especially true of financial jobs in countries that are corrupt or have weak regulation. Illyrio, who is already beaucoup rich, wants to be the Westeros Master of Coin eventually. Not for his health, presumably!

Well if you believe fAegon is Illyrios' son then he has another reason.

[David Selig]

Yeah, it does seem to beggar belief that Littlefinger can multiply the Crown's incomes by so much yet still be in so much debt unless expenses are rising too. Could all these expenses really be from Robert's feasts, tournaments, and flaming swords? It does strain credulity unless each feast cost as much as a Faceless Man.

Martin is really bad with anything money related in ASOIF. It's hard to say what's a mistake by the author and what's a clue something is really wrong.

[Iona]

When Stannis delivers the legendary "even the cook" line, he goes a little deeper into the Slynt situation and does bring up LF too. I guess even if Jon Arryn/anyone had noticed LF was milking some of the crown's assets for himself, Bobby could have said the same thing he said of Slynt - "Better a thief we know..." :/

Stannis ground his teeth. “It is not my wish to tamper with your rights and traditions. As to royal guidance, Janos, if you mean that I ought to tell your brothers to choose you, have the courage to say so.”
That took Lord Janos aback. He smiled uncertainly and began to sweat, but Bowen Marsh beside him said, “Who better to command the black cloaks than a man who once commanded the gold, sire?”
“Any of you, I would think. Even the cook.” The look the king gave Slynt was cold. “Janos was hardly the first gold cloak ever to take a bribe, I grant you, but he may have been the first commander to fatten his purse by selling places and promotions. By the end he must have had half the officers in the City Watch paying him part of their wages. Isn’t that so, Janos?”
Slynt’s neck was purpling. “Lies, all lies! A strong man makes enemies, Your Grace knows that, they whisper lies behind your back. Naught was ever proven, not a man came forward...”
“Two men who were prepared to come forward died suddenly on their rounds.” Stannis narrowed his eyes. “Do not trifle with me, my lord. I saw the proof Jon Arryn laid before the small council. If I had been king you would have lost more than your office, I promise you, but Robert shrugged away your little lapses. ‘They all steal’ I recall him saying. ‘Better a thief we know than one we don’t, the next man might be worse.’ Lord Petyr’s words in my brother’s mouth, I’ll warrant. Littlefinger had a nose for gold, and I’m certain he arranged matters so the crown profited as much from your corruption as you did yourself.”

[Petyr Patter]

The question isn't whether Littlerfinger was stealing? The question is HOW MUCH was Littlefinger stealing.

Alternatively, why wouldn't Littlefinger steal?

He controlled the the major financial offices, such as duty collectors. He has absolutely no loyalty or morality. Pretty much all the lords though Littlefinger as some sort of amiable savant and let him keep track of the money so long as he gave money when asked.

So, did he merely skim off the top, a 1% "tip" for his services, which with a 6 million gold debt would still have been a small fortune, or did he engineer something far greater, in the realm of a million or more dragons.

[Bronn Urgandy]

Those allegations were never proven. Charges were never filed.

That's right!

[The Broke Howard Hughes]

Think of it this way, there is no proof he actually stole but when he got to King's Landing he didn't have a fortune but when he left he was rich and powerful. How exactly does that work? Even in Westeros its hard to get rich on a government salary unless you're breaking the law.

[Lady Winter Rose]

I'm glad we found some textual clues about LF theaft.

[Muggle]

Im pretty sure LF stole. And also used the coin of the crown to help his own business ventures. I think Ned says something about it in a POV in GOT about how LF and a few others made a bit of money off the Tourney of the Hand.

Little Figure is probably one of the reasons the Crown is so far in Debt. I highly doubt the a few tournaments and and some feast from Robert put the crown that far in debt.

[Red Raven]

I fully believe LF was embezzling.

Someone who is honest and transparent would have left books that aren't too complicated for someone else to follow. Tyrion is one of the most intelligent characters; if Littlefinger's ledgers were so confusing they made Tyrion's head hurt it's because LF was deliberately cooking the books and wanted to hide it.

That Robert was recklessly spending just made it all the easier for LF to skim money from the crown.

[David Selig]

Tyrion doesn't know the first thing about advanced accounting and trade. He's never had to earn a single dime in his life until then.

[Sansa_Stark]

Tyrion doesn't know the first thing about advanced accounting and trade. He's never had to earn a single dime in his life until then.

That's a bold claim.

Tyrion is still very well educated by Westerosi standard. Maybe he has some knowledge from reading.

[Jaak]

The Targs were able to run a Kingdom on 1/10 of Roberts spending. To suggest Robert spends 10x the Targ budget on feasting is like saying the USA debt is from Obama buying a golden Ferrari each month.

No, we are NOT told that Targaryens did or could run the Kingdom on 1/10 of Petyr´s revenue.

We are told that ROBERT and Petyr´s beleaguered predecessor were running the Kingdom on 1/10 of Petyr´s revenue. We are not told that they could do so. Petyr´s predecessor was beleaguered, Aerys´ overflowing treasury was exhausted, and some of the debt (not all, we see Robert adding to it) may well have predated Petyr.

[kiasyd]

Why wouldn't LF steal? Let's review some of the events that we know for a fact he did:

. Orchestrated the murder of Jon Arryn (hand of the king)

. Ostensibly (for the whole court) conspired with and betrayed Ned Stark in favour of the Lannisters

. Convinced Joff to execute Ned (hand of the king)

. Orchestrated the murder of Joff (king)

. Defenestrated Lisa Arryn (wife)

. Set up for Jeyne Poole to be trained in a whorehouse

. Broke the crown

. Lied for every other character 99% of the time

I'm sure I'm forgetting some other events... Now, with that in mind, why wouldn't LF fraud the accounts? Nobody cared how he performed his job, and he has a lot of worse crimes to answer for.

[fuem]

Ask Lord Slynt's head Stannis told it true

[Tywin Manderly]

Sorry for any mistakes in the following text.

Did LF make a financially fraud while he was Master of Coin? I vaguely remember that Tyrion were thinking LF have been buying the goods from merchants, then he manufactured them to seems more expensive and sells them back to the Crown. Ego, Crown buys their own goods.

Yes, Littlefinger systematically robbed the Treasury to line his pockets.