Ross tells panel he has support
One of New Zealand’s most highprofile fraudsters says a network of family and churchgoers is ready to help him if he is released from prison, but an administrative delay saw his first parole hearing adjourned.
David Robert Gilmour Ross, 68, made his first appearance before the parole board at Rimutaka Prison on February 22. Jailed for his role in a massive Ponzi-scheme fraud in 2013, Ross became eligible to be considered for release in late January but his lawyer, Mike Kilbride, told the board Ross could not be considered for parole because the address he was planning to live at had not been approved by Corrections Department staff.
Stuff successfully applied to be allowed to attend the hearing.
Ross was sentenced to up to 10 years and 10 months in prison in November 2013 after pleading guilty to a series of charges related to his running of Ross Asset Management, a Wellington investment management firm.
Hundreds of investors believed Ross was managing accounts worth, collectively, almost $380 million.
However, the Financial Markets Authority raided the company’s offices on The Terrace in November 2012, after clients complained they could not contact the company. Almost immediately the regulator applied to the courts to have assets frozen, warning of a ‘‘vacuum of management’’. Liquidators warned of a massive shortfall, with the assets immediately available worth only about $10
million, and suspecting that Ross had used deposits from new clients to cover withdrawals from existing clients, a technique known as a ponzi scheme.
Years of legal battles between liquidators and former clients have played out, as John Fisk of PwC tries to claw back millions of dollars from people who withdrew funds before the scheme’s collapse, to help recover some of the $115m invested by clients.
Fisk and former Ross Asset Management investor Hamish McIntosh battled all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that clients who withdrew funds could keep their initial investments, but had to return all fictitious profits.
A liquidators’ report from January, marking 72 months since appointment, said $20.9 million had been clawed back from 195 investors. Some cases have been taken against the estates of Ross clients who have died. Yesterday, Fisk said eight cases, over a combined $4.15m in fictitious profits, are yet to reach court. Despite not having an approved address, Kilbride told the panel that Ross had been ‘‘doing very well’’ in prison, creating no issues for staff.
Ross was now old enough to receive New Zealand superannuation and had an extensive network of friends and family to support him, Kilbride said. The only offending of his life had been his
role in the fraud, which would be impossible for him to repeat.
A relative had ‘‘taken a bit of a punt’’ and had arranged a rental property for Ross, Kilbride said, as he asked for the consideration of his client to be put on hold for the ‘‘briefest possible period’’ while checks were made that the address was suitable.
Ross was asked about the support he would have. He said his family were ‘‘well spread’’ throughout New Zealand and Australia and he would also call on the support of a church community in Lower Hutt. ‘‘None of them condone what I’ve done, but they’re prepared to help me.’’
Panel convener Judge Arthur Tompkins told Ross his proposed address would be assessed and parole would be considered when he next appeared before the Parole Board. His next appearance could be as soon as March.