Thursday, June 13, 2013

Charges over alleged Ponzi scheme

David Ross

A Wellington financial adviser has been charged over an alleged $400 million Ponzi scheme.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has laid the charges against 63-year-old David Robert Gilmour Ross following a joint investigation with the Financial Markets Authority (FMA).
Ross faces four Crimes Act charges of false accounting and one of theft by a person in a special relationship. 
The SFO says the investigation into Ross Asset Management (RAM) and related entities began in November last year following several complaints of delays and non-payment of funds to investors. In October 2012, the FMA obtained asset preservation orders and orders appointing receivers and managers to the Ross Group of entities. Initial inquiries by receivers showed investments of only $10.2m actually existed.
The SFO alleges that Ross conducted a Ponzi scheme which he disguised by falsely reporting clients’ investments. It says that large portions of client portfolios shown as invested through a broker 'Bevis Marks' were fictitious and never existed, resulting in an overstatement of investment positions by more than $380 million.
More than 1,200 RAM client accounts have been affected by the scheme.

Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Charges-over-alleged-Ponzi-scheme/tabid/423/articleID/301308/Default.aspx#ixzz2WAPevgwb

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