Judge blasts fraudster for fleecing pensioners of life savings

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A fraudster who sweet-talked two elderly women and ripped them off for nearly $400,000 - their life savings - has been blasted by a judge.

In the Auckland District Court, Anthony Kemp, 58, was sentenced to three years and four months in jail on 10 charges of theft in a special relationship and charges of making and using a false document.

Kemp met the women, who live in Australia, in 2008.

Portraying himself as a successful investor, he persuaded them to part with their cash, which in one case covered her entire superannuation.

"You befriended them and convinced them of your ability to earn significant money for them by investing it," Judge Gus Andree Wiltens said.

"And you've taken that money and used it for your own purposes."

A Serious Fraud Office investigation showed the money had been spent on Kemp's "high lifestyle".

Crown prosecutor Luke Clancy mentioned alleged links to a UK-based Ponzi scheme and the defendant could be in more hot water after he submitted an affidavit to the court in his support from a Russian bank.

"Obviously the documents are completely false. I thought that when they were first given to me," the judge said.

The police are investigating whether that was the case and Mr Clancy said their inquiries led them to other foreign-based fraudsters linked with counterfeit currency.

Kemp's lawyer Richard Keam told the court his client was genuinely remorseful and had been in contact with associates overseas to try to stump up the funds to pay back his victims.

He proposed the defendant be sentenced to the maximum term of home detention, which he conceded would be lenient.

But Judge Andree Wiltens was far from convinced.

"Promises to pay the money back are simply words floating in the ether with nothing of substance behind them," he said.

"You were charged in 2011 and pleaded guilty in late 2014. That doesn't cut it. That's not remorse."

Kemp wrote letters to the two women and one company he defrauded but they did nothing to help his cause.

Mr Clancy said he had explained the offending as "business transactions that went wrong", which was far from the truth.

"Your letters of apology aren't apologies at all. They indicate you've made 'one mistake' even though you have repeatedly fobbed those people off and taken money from them on a number of occasions," Judge Andree Wiltens said.

"You might've convinced yourself but you haven't convinced me."