Waikanae resident Ian Victor Petersen would have plenty of time to realise the folly of his actions in prison to which the Wellington District Court assigned him for a five-and-half year term.
The 61-year old had, as reported in our December 15, 2010 issue, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of theft by a person required to account, 19 counts of theft by a person in special relationship, one count of using a document with intent to defraud and one count of dishonestly using a document.
In addition to the prison sentence, he was obliged to pay $110,000 in reparation to the victims of his fraud.
The Court heard that the defendant had misused clients’ funds including payment of tax, investments, forestry management fees, and use of certain documents for reducing a tax liability.
Mr Petersen, who operated ‘‘Sorrel Financial Services,’ had obtained more than $ 2 million from 17 clients over 13 years as a tax agent, investment advisor and an accountant. A number of his clients, cheated out of payments due to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) are now discussing with the officials their tax liabilities and if payment in instalments would be possible.
Among the other proven charges was that Mr Petersen had falsely claimed to be a member of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) and a graduate (Bachelor of Business Studies).
Adam Feeley, Chief Executive of Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which brought Mr Petersen to justice, said the sentence reflected the severity of the consequences that the fraud had on the victims of Petersen’s crimes.
“These crimes had devastating financial consequences on people who had placed absolute trust in Mr Petersen, and it was a trust that he abused,” he said.
He hoped that the verdict will provide the victims with some solace that serious financial crimes will not go unpunished.
According to another SFO charge, he had received about $604,000 from two clients for investment. He paid them regular monthly interest either out of their own funds or of monies obtained from other clients but did not make any investments.
Answering another charge, Mr Petersen confessed to having received about $72,000 from two clients for making fee payments to a forestry management company. The amounts were far in excess of the true amounts, of which Mr Petersen did make some payments. On occasion, Mr Petersen did not pass on correspondence from the forestry management company to the clients, which included documents advising that particular invoices were not required to be paid as pruning plans had been abandoned.
