Jail term for former broker
Judge waives reparations from fraudster as it would only ‘raise false hopes’ for victims
Aformer mortgage broker has been sentenced to four years and nine months’ jail for $1.3m of fraud that wiped out people’s retirement funds. Ian Ludwig, former director of NZ Home Loans Auckland Central, in January pleaded guilty to seven charges of fraud against seven investors.
Ludwig appeared in the Auckland District Court yesterday afternoon for sentencing for charges related to the offending which took place between 2002 and 2009.
Judge Rob Ronayne described Ludwig as a thief, who took not just from his clients, but from people who trusted him as a friend.
Judge Ronayne said Ludwig’s actions had devastated lives and led one person to suicidal thoughts. He had taken money from people who were unlikely to ever get it back.
“You have taken from people who, as with most people, worked very hard indeed to gather together those funds,” he said. “You have wiped out retirement savings for people at an age and at a stage who are not able to recover from that.”
In delivering the summary of facts, the judge described a pattern where Ludwig talked people into parting with their money with the belief they would get a high rate of return.
He said Ludwig not only failed to fully disclose the risks, but then went and spent it on personal and business expenses — including a house to live in, a beach house and an investment property.
Judge Ronayne said forcing Ludwig, who declared bankruptcy in 2010, to pay reparation would likely serve nothing but to engender false hope in his victims.
Despite knowing they were unlikely to get their lost money back, many of the victims who were in the court clapped as the final sentence was delivered.
Four of the victims read out statements on the impact Ludwig’s offending had had on their lives: psychological, physical and financial.
Throughout their statements, Ludwig sat in the dock, his head cast down.
One man in his 60s described the devastation and disbelief at what Ludwig had done.
He said the financial loss, combined with betrayal of trust, had “nearly cost me my life”.
“I never went out, I curled up and slept all the time. It affected my eating and everything. I lost heaps of weight and I was very isolated. I didn’t see any reason to live.
“I had intended for that investment to be used as a home; it was meant to be my security and sense of wellbeing to protect me in my old age. My dream has gone and my life has changed.”
Another victim, a solo mother, described how she was in Iraq when she found out about what Ludwig had done with her investments.
She had gone to the war zone to earn money in the hopes of providing her son a chance at getting on the ladder.
“The real danger [I found out] was not in Baghdad, but in Auckland,” she said. “I was robbed right here . . . it was all ripped away, everything.”
And a third victim, a mother to three grown-up children, described how she felt like a burden.
“Today my children give me $50 a week to make ends meet, because I don’t have enough to live on,” she said. “What you have done to me will affect me and my children for the rest of our lives. I cannot recover from the theft of my life’s money.”
Defence lawyer Dan Gardener said his client was remorseful for his actions, which he said came as a result of the global financial crisis.
“He was placed in a situation where he couldn’t put things right.”
However, Judge Ronayne refused to accept this as an explanation. “The GFC wasn’t the problem; greed and dishonesty was the problem — yours. Your motivation was greed and lifestyle — nothing more, nothing less.”