David Ross was sentenced in 2013 to 10 years, 10 months' jail for an elaborate Ponzi scheme spanning 12 years in which an estimated $115.5 million of investments was lost. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The liquidator of Ross Asset Management has cut deals totalling $4.5 million with 16 investors and is in talks with a number of others about reaching settlements.
PwC's John Fisk is seeking to recover as much as possible of the $100 million-to-$115 million of investor money frittered away in the
country's biggest Ponzi scheme. In his latest update, Fisk said claims against 65 investors are subject to standstill agreements, where the liquidator has agreed not to issue proceedings until an upcoming Supreme Court hearing is ruled on, in exchange for the investor not challenging them as being time-barred.
So far, two investors have refused to enter into the agreements, which led to legal proceedings being issued against them, although one of those has since settled, Fisk said in his report. Another 16 settled with the liquidator to avoid the threat of future litigation for a combined value of $4.5 million, of which $1.5 million was received at the time of the report on July 15.
"The liquidators are in discussions with other investors regarding further settlements or the entering into of standstill agreements," Fisk said.
Wellington-based David Ross built up a private investment service by word of mouth, producing regular reports for shareholders indicating healthy but fictitious returns. Between June 2000 and September 2012, Ross reported false profits of $351 million from fictitious securities trading as part of a fraud that was the largest single such crime committed by an individual in New Zealand.
