A serial fraudster who persuaded hundreds of Cantabrians to invest more than $8 million in a fake foreign exchange brokerage has been jailed for seven years and six months, with a minimum non-parole period of three years and nine months, for charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office.
Lance Jack Ryan, 44 was sentenced at the Christchurch District Court.
He had pled guilty earlier to charges of obtaining by deception, false accounting, forgery, reproducing a document with intent to deceive and theft by person in special relationship.
Ryan, also known as Lance Jared Thompson, used the forex platform BlackfortFX as a façade to encourage more than 900 investors, who were mostly from the Christchurch region, to put about $8.3 million in the Ponzi scheme.
Ryan has a number of previous dishonesty convictions including misleading a social welfare officer and taking or using a document for pecuniary advantage, together with other Insolvency Act and Companies Act offences.
Jimmie Kevin McNicholl, 56, who was the public face of BlackfortFX, as well as its sole shareholder and director, was sentenced to 11 months of home detention and $50,000 reparation.
McNicholl pled guilty in May to obtaining the registration as a financial services provider by deception.
BlackfortFX did not conduct any forex trading, or any other form of investment activity.
SFO Director, Julie Read said the sentence imposed on Ryan reflects the very serious nature of his offending.
"He cynically manipulated vulnerable and trusting investors, many of whom have suffered considerable stress in additional to financial loss," Ms Read said.
Some of the lost money was payouts from the Earthquake Commission, she said.
"Mr Ryan also deceived the Financial Markets Authority and the Companies Office. The prosecution of such matters is an important aspect of protecting New Zealand’s reputation as a safe place to invest and do business," Ms Read said.
The SFO has acknowledged the assistance of the Financial Markets Authority in the investigation which brought about the prosecution of Ryan and McNicholl.
Arena Capital Limited, which traded as BlackfortFX, was registered on the Financial Service Providers Register and purported to offer foreign exchange services to clients.
The Financial Markets Authority obtained asset preservation orders over the assets of Arena and associated persons in May 2015.
The FMA also referred the matter to the Serious Fraud Office.
Arena was placed into liquidation at the Christchurch High Court in July 2015.
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