$115 million con man David Ross to face parole board

Ponzi operator David Ross. Photo / File

The man behind one of New Zealand's largest Ponzi schemes will face a parole board hearing next month.

David Ross, Wellington financier and former head of the Ross Asset Management (RAM), was jailed for 10 years and 10 months in November 2013 after conning $115.5 million out of 700-plus clients.

The then 63-year-old pleaded guilty to eight charges, brought by the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Management Authority, for his elaborate fraud which spanned 12 years.

Ross was ordered him to serve a minimum of half that time, meaning he could be released mid-April, at earliest.

Whether that happens will be the subject of a parole board hearing that's been scheduled for next month, communications manager Tim Graham confirmed.

The judge said Ross' actions had "blighted the remaining lives of the often elderly and all innocent citizens".

"Effectively, your hubris has wrought incalculable harm to many hundreds of people."

Prior to RAM's collapse, Ross had led investors to believe they had $351.5m in client portfolios.

Among Ross' victims were a couple who had given over their life savings in the hope of securing funding for their autistic son's future.

"This was to be the nest egg for the future care of our mentally disabled son," the wife told the court through their victim impact statement.

They were planning to put returns earned from RAM investments towards a home for their son where he could live with others under supervision when they were no longer able to care for him, she said through tears.

Another of Ross' victims revealed how the ordeal had led to him being suicidal.

The investor said he and his wife invested $1.4 million in the company.

"It was the capital reward from years of hard work and stress."

The pain and anguish had even been too much for the man to draft his victim impact statement, which had to be written by his wife, he told the court.

"I was not up to it, I was suicidal."

WHERE TO GET HELP:

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