A New Zealand-based financial adviser has admitted to defrauding investors of at least NZ$15.7m (£7.7m, $9.8m, €8.7m).
Barry Kloogh pleaded guilty in the Dunedin District Court to all but one of the charges brought by the country’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
He has admitted to representative charges of false accounting, false statement by promoters, theft by person in special relationship and obtaining by deception; as well as individual charges of four counts of forgery, one count of theft by person in special relationship and two counts of obtaining by deception.
The SFO failed to disclose to which charge he did not plead guilty.
Kloogh provided financial advisory services through several companies of which he was the sole director and shareholder, including Financial Planning (which traded as Breathe Financial), Breathe Financial and Impact Enterprises.
Not in a position to recover
Julie Read, the director of the SFO, said: “Mr Kloogh exploited the trust and goodwill of his clients to misappropriate a significant amount of money from them.
“Many victims lost their retirement savings and are not in a position to recover financially.”
Kloogh has been remanded in custody and no bail application has been made.
This news comes months after International Adviser reported that the SFO was investigating Kloogh.
