Befriend
them, lie to them and steal more than $1.2 million dollars. Serial fraudster Stephan Grant Goodburn with
fraud convictions on both sides of the Tasman was sentenced to six years and
two months imprisonment for defrauding five victims over a ten-year period.
Victim one lost $911,000. He was offered the chance to buy shares and
options at a reduced rate. Two years
later when he began asking detailed questions about the supposed investments,
Goodburn concocted a threatening story about Serious Fraud Office
investigations into suspected insider trading.
Goodburn then extorted more money from his victim under the guise of
protecting him from potential imprisonment for insider trading. There was no serious fraud
investigation. There were no shares or
options purchased. The fraud funded
Goodburn’s lavish lifestyle.
Victim two lost
$164,000. He too was spun the story of
buying shares and options at a reduced rate.
He learnt of the fraud three years later when Goodburn was asked to
liquidate his non-existent investment portfolio.
Victim three lost
$30,000. Goodburn told her the funds
would be invested for her in a company with hot prospects that he was
associated with. Instead he bought a
car.
Victim four lost
$10,000. Again, funds intended for
investment went straight into Goodburn’s pocket.
Victim five lost
$79,000. Under the guise of Goodburn and
her taking their relationship “to the next level,” Goodburn asked her to fund
the deposit on a house purchase in Auckland.
No house was purchased.
Two of the five victims
were women with whom he was then in a relationship.
Justice Downs said
Goodburn was motivated by greed. What
was a large scale but relatively unsophisticated serial fraud against five
victims lasted a decade with serious impact on his victims. Funds extracted from one victim were used to
partially repay others who had confronted Goodburn on discovering the frauds. Net losses across the five victims reached
about $1.2 million.
The court was told much
of the offending took place in 2014 when Goodburn was on bail and then serving
sentences of community service for earlier unrelated fraud offences. He escaped possible jail time for those offences
by making reparation to these earlier fraud victims; reparation funded by
thefts from his later victims. Goodburn
was described as being a calculating individual, highly self-entitled and
lacking empathy. He has convictions in Australia from 1995 for forgery, theft
and false pretences.
R. v.
Goodburn – High Court (7.07.17)
17.078