WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) A New Zealand man pleaded guilty Thursday to running a $300 million Ponzi scheme, the country's largest ever.
Former Wellington financial adviser David Ross pleaded guilty to five charges of false accounting and theft. The 63-year-old has been jailed pending his sentencing in October.
Regulators say 1,200 investors lost paper returns of more than 380 million New Zealand dollars ($296 million) in the scheme. Serious Fraud Office acting manager Graham Gill said their out-of-pocket losses were at least NZ$115 million.
Ross first began managing funds in 1989. The Serious Fraud Office believes from its investigation that he began running the Ponzi scheme about mid-2000.
Regulators last year suspended his authorization to act as a financial adviser and his company, Ross Asset Management, was forced into bankruptcy.
