Jailed financial adviser Barry Kloogh s wife breaks silence nzherald.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nzherald.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Wolves at the door: The woman fighting NZ s fraudsters and conmen
30 Apr, 2021 05:00 PM
9 minutes to read
It s never been easier for scammers to sink their hooks into victims. Photo / Getty Images
It s never been easier for scammers to sink their hooks into victims. Photo / Getty Images
New Zealand s market watchdog issued more than 100 scam warnings over the past 12 months. The ongoing battle by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has provided Kiwis with a virtual encyclopaedia of the scams and rorts doing the rounds online.
Most of these schemes won t hit the front pages, but the collective harm they do is being felt around the world.
Kloogh stands in the dock of the Dunedin District Court for sentencing on July 31, 2020. But it has since emerged Kloogh claimed he had invested in Bitcoin, even offering it as a service to some investors. The cryptocurrency, which is not controlled by governments or banks, allows people to use it anonymously – unless they tell others. A source, who had known Kloogh socially for almost two decades, told
Stuff that Kloogh was touting Bitcoin as a possible investment vehicle before his High St office in Dunedin was raided. The man, who later did some contract work for the financial adviser, recalled Kloogh telling him that he was investing in Bitcoin and the returns were ’insane .
Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
The 57-year-old this week appealed his prison sentence, non-parole period and a $5 million reparation order imposed on him.
Kloogh was jailed for eight years and 10 months in July after defrauding dozens of investors of more than $15 million.
A minimum non-parole period of five years and four months was imposed.
He admitted 11 charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office in March.
Earlier this week his lawyer, Sarah Saunderson-Warner, argued the sentencing judge s starting point for her client s sentence was too high.
She also told the High Court Kloogh should have received greater credit for his co-operation with authorities and his victims once the offending was uncovered.