Shane
Richard Scott was sentenced to four years eight months jail for a Ponzi fraud after
extracting $5.4 million from friends and acquaintances with false promises of
high-value investments when socialising with them at Auckland rugby clubs and local
bars.
Scott operated his
fraud for over a decade with promises to thirteen victims of lucrative
investments in property development, diamond trading, financing exports and
imports, plus investments in off-shore businesses in Thailand and New Caledonia. He pleaded guilty to 27 fraud charges. A Serious Fraud Office investigation
identified a net loss to victims of $2.1 million. Some victims received full or partial
repayment, often to add credence to the fiction of successful investments with
an intent to encourage further investment.
The High Court was told
Scott did not live an extravagant lifestyle.
The Ponzi fraud started after he incurred heavy personal losses in
property and investment markets.
Scott has previous
convictions: two for fraud in 2011 and 2012; one for perverting the course of
justice in 2014. Now aged sixty, Scott is
in poor health with heart disease and arthritis. He was bankrupted in 2015.
R. v.
Scott – High Court (13.10.17)
17.136