Businessman Steven Robertson who orchestrated a $10m Ponzi scheme loses final appeal bid to Supreme Court
10 May, 2021 05:42 AM
5 minutes to read
Trader Steven Robertson has failed to have his minimum period of imprisonment quashed. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Trader Steven Robertson has failed to have his minimum period of imprisonment quashed. Photo / Jason Oxenham
An Auckland trader behind a $10 million Ponzi scheme has lost a final bid with the Supreme Court to be freed from a prison cell sooner. Steven Robertson, who once claimed he was as good as John Key , misappropriated millions of dollars from his clients to fund a lavish lifestyle of European cars, travel by private helicopter and jet, luxury weekend getaways, and jewellery.
Ross Giblin/Stuff Smith then sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. In their decision, Justices William Young, Susan Glazebrook and Mark O’Regan found there was evidence that a published interview would cause distress to Smith’s victims. They upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision that withholding approval for the interview was not a “disproportionate limit on the Smith’s right to freedom of expression”, when balanced against the impact on the victims. In 1996, he was sentenced to life in prison for murder, paedophile offending, aggravated burglary and kidnapping. He had molested a 13-year-old boy over a three-year period, and later stabbed the boy s father to death.