Dunedin Ponzi schemer Barry Kloogh has been denied early release from prison, with the Parole Board ruling he remains a serious risk to the community.
The former financial adviser, who is serving eight years and 10 months for stealing at least $15.7 million from clients, told the board he had convinced himself he could “beat the system” and one day repay the money.
“I think that was greed and pride and very foolish things to think that I could beat the system, and obviously I did not. I have paid the price for my deception, and unfortunately, those of my victims are still paying the price for my deception,” he said.
“I thought I would be able to be undiscovered and eventually put it back, but of course I wasn’t.”
In 2019, Kloogh was prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office after an investigation initiated by the Financial Markets Authority that year.
Kloogh, who ran Financial Planning Limited (trading as Breathe Financial), Breathe Financial Limited and Impact Enterprises Limited, admitted to multiple charges including false accounting, theft by a person in a special relationship, obtaining by deception, and forgery.
He had about 2000 active clients in May 2019.
On Tuesday, the Parole Board, convened by Judge Jane Lovell-Smith, with Olivia Brittain and Alan Hackney, declined his release, ruling he remains an undue risk to the community and continues to show limited insight into the scale and impact of his offending.
Kloogh was supported at the hearing by family and friends.
Kloogh, whose release was opposed by his victims based in Dunedin, told the panel he disputed a psychologist’s assessment that he lacks empathy, insisting: “I completely disagree with that.”
He maintained he had completed all available rehabilitation programmes in prison and believed he could safely reintegrate into the community if released.
However, the board said his understanding of his own behaviour remained superficial.
According to the recent psychological report, Kloogh continued to minimise key drivers of his offending, with the report describing his explanations as “overly externalised” and warning the personality traits underpinning his deception were “enduring” and would require “active, ongoing management”.
Board members challenged Kloogh regarding these findings, noting he frequently reverted to explanations that placed his actions in the context of “stress” or “pressure”, rather than deliberate and sustained dishonesty.
Probation recommended a whereabouts condition excluding him from Dunedin, Mosgiel and Cromwell – the centres of his long-running Ponzi scheme and the places where most of his victims continue to live and work.
Kloogh did not have an approved address outside those areas.
The board expressed concern Kloogh could not articulate a robust safety plan beyond general assurances.
Board members also referred to the extensive harm outlined in victim impact statements.
Many described losing retirement savings, being unable to access medical treatment, or experiencing ongoing anxiety and financial insecurity.
Some victims had died since the scheme was uncovered in 2019.
The board said allowing Kloogh to return to the same community where many victims still live and work would be “highly distressing and inappropriate”.
In its decision, the board concluded “a viable reintegration plan does not yet exist” and Kloogh continues to pose “an undue risk to the community”.
Kloogh will remain in custody and will reappear before the Parole Board in six months.
Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.