Trader charged with multi-million dollar fraud
An Auckland man who operated a foreign exchange brokerage and trading business has been charged with fraud that allegedly saw his largest investors lose more than $1 million each.
Kelvin Clive Wood (69) entered no plea today at the Auckland District Court to representative charges of ‘Obtaining by deception’ and ‘Theft by person in a special relationship’ brought by the Serious Fraud Office.
The SFO alleges that the defendant operated a Ponzi scheme from January 2010 to May 2017 - using new investors’ funds to pay other investors their reported gains, or to refund their principal investment.
It alleges that 18 investors lost at least $7 million as a result of the defendant’s offending during this eight-year period.
Mr Wood has been remanded on bail until his next appearance at the Auckland District Court on 13 November.
The Financial Markets Authority referred the case to the SFO to investigate in mid-2017.
(Ends)