House arrest for Auckland stock trader Rodney McCall, who has yet to reimburse victims of fraud

An Auckland stock trader has been sentenced to house arrest after robbing investors who had previously fallen victim to a top-flight fraudster.

Rodney McCall, also known as Rodney Crichton, appeared today in the Manukau
District court for a third conviction attempt.

He had pleaded guilty in June to two representative charges of obtaining by deception, one charge representative of dishonest use of a document and two charges of obstructing the powers of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) under the law. on the Autorité des marchés financiers.

McCall’s conviction had been adjourned twice as it was expected that today he would be able to repay all the money he stole from his victims.

The 43-year-old got just under $ 100,000 from those he contacted during his scheme, and he was charged with fraudulent investments of just over $ 70,000.

McCall’s ruse consisted of contacting people – some of whom had previously fallen victim to former associate and prominent fraudster Steven Robertson – before convincing them to “invest.”

Today, however, Judge Charles Blackie learned that McCall had only paid two victims for a total of approximately $ 14,000.

The convicted scammer also said he had an additional $ 10,000 he could pay today.

But Justice Blackie was skeptical of the validity of McCall’s claims.

“I am dealing with a fraudster,” he said. “I’m dealing with someone who is inherently dishonest and I just don’t trust him.”

Judge Blackie said McCall’s investors trusted him but that was “entirely inappropriate.”

Fraud has had a serious impact on the financial well-being of many victims and in some cases they have lost entire savings.

The money was simply transferred to bank accounts controlled by McCall before spending it on gambling, alcohol, transportation and living expenses, the court said.

While McCall wrote a letter of remorse, Judge Blackie did not consider it to be an authentic expression.

The judge sentenced him to 12 months of house arrest and also banned McCall from being involved in handling money, giving financial advice, applying for a credit card or loan, and making commitments. in the affairs of any business, trust or entity unless approved by a probation officer.

He also ordered that McCall’s finances for the purpose of repairing his victims be under the control of a probation officer.

“These are very strict conditions and they will restrict your business activities,” Judge Blackie said, adding that the conditions will continue for six months after his house arrest ends.

McCall was employed by Robertson at his company, Prosper Through Trading Limited (PTT), which was later discovered as a $ 10 million Ponzi scheme.

Some of McCall’s victims were also investors in PTT, for which McCall worked from February 2015 to August 2015 selling trading packages.

After leaving PTT, McCall established a new trading company Morgan Cooper Limited.

But he quickly began to cold-call and attack potential investors to promote a currency investing service that just didn’t exist.

Neither he nor his company were authorized or approved by the FMA.

McCall then obstructed the FMA during its investigation by providing false evidence in alleged respect of an opinion issued to him under the FMA Act.

Robertson, who was the PTT director, was sentenced last year to six years and eight months in jail for embezzling millions of dollars from his customers.

He used it to fund a lavish lifestyle of expensive European cars, luxury weekends, vacations abroad – including on a private jet – and jewelry.

Robertson boasted of being “as good as John Key” and was described by one victim as “a very persuasive guy … I think he could sell an Eskimo ice cream”.

The FMA described it as a $ 10 million Ponzi scheme with 22 victims, one of whom was now so suspicious of financiers that he refuses to deposit money in a bank.

Robertson’s appeal to reduce his sentence was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in June.