A swindling Auckland stockbroker sentenced to six years' jail has lost an appeal against the length of his prison term.
Gregory Arnott pleaded guilty to five charges of theft by a person in a special relationship and another five charges of false statement by a promoter.
Arnott, now 52, was an options-trader and through his companies traded on behalf of local clients on the New Zealand and Australian Stock Exchange.
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• Swindling stockbroker jailed for six years
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He admitted between April 2008 and May 2012 to using $2.5 million of investors' money for purposes other than options trading.
This included buying a house worth more than $700,000, repaying other investors and funding a portion of an advance fee in an attempt to obtain a loan.
All these funds were lost.
Separately, Arnott sent false statements to investors that did not reflect any trading losses. For three years from February 2009, he prepared and distributed monthly accounts showing significant values for investors even though he had stopped trading because of lack of available funds.
His purpose was to induce investors either to keep what they thought were their investments in the company or to put in more money.
He told investors there was $3.27 million more than he actually held on their behalf.
Arnott last August was sentenced in the Auckland District Court to six years in jail.
The broker's abuse of his victim's trust, the terrible impact of the offending, and his premeditation were aggravating factors.
But Arnott appealed the length of his sentence earlier this month.
His Queen's Counsel, Paul Dacre, argued the offending was less serious than that of National Finance director Trevor Ludlow.
Ludlow, who has since been released on parole, was sentenced to five years and seven months' jail in 2011 for fraud.
The Court of Appeal disagreed.
Dacre also argued the District Court judge gave an inadequate allowance for Arnott's personal mitigating factors.
But the Court of Appeal's Justice Rhys Harrison was not satisfied this led to a "manifestly excessive sentence".
He dismissed Arnott's appeal.