Capital + Merchant Finance collapsed in 2007 owing some $167.1 million to about 7,500 investors. Photo / Jason Dorday
Capital + Merchant Finance directors Robert Sutherland and Colin Ryan have both pleaded guilty to charges of making untrue statements in offer documents and will be sentenced in Auckland next month.
The Australia-based pair admitted two charges of making an untrue statement in a registered prospectus and one charge of
distributing advertisements which included an untrue statement, market watchdog the Financial Markets Authority said in a statement. They will be sentenced in the High Court in Auckland on March 15.
"The law requires directors to ensure that investors receive accurate information in disclosure documents," FMA head of enforcement Belinda Moffat said. "FMA regards the guilty pleas of Mr Sutherland and Mr Ryan as reflecting their failure in their obligations to investors in this respect."
The guilty pleas come a week after fellow director Owen Tallentire admitted similar charges. Tallentire is serving a five-year prison sentence after he was found guilty on two charges of theft by a person in a special relationship in a prosecution taken by the Serious Fraud Office.
The FMA's case against directors Neal Nicholls and Wayne Douglas begins next week. Nicholls and Douglas were each sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for their role in the fraud.
