SFO to make 'Ponzi scheme' arrest

Adam Feeley of the Serious Fraud Office Photo / Brett Phibbs

The Serious Fraud Office is poised to swoop on the backer of a ponzi scheme involving "tens of millions" of dollars tomorrow, SFO boss Adam Feeley said.

Appearing before Parliament's law and order committee, Feeley said an arrest would be made tomorrow in the case the SFO had been investigating since the matter was referred to it by the Registrar of Companies.

The matter involved "tens of millions of dollars in investor losses," he said.

Feeley said the issue was initially described by the Registrar of Companies as "an investment fraud, a ponzi scheme" but it was suggested the SFO "tag along" with the Registrar's own inquiries.

"It was very quickly transformed into an SFO investigation.''
Tomorrow's arrest would be followed by "some very serious criminal charges".

Feeley later refused to give further details.

He raised the matter with the committee as an example of the SFO's increased cooperation with other agencies.

A ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that relies on funds from new investors to pay returns to those already involved rather than from actual profits.