Tax agent receives additional sentence for SFO fraud charges

Ian Victor Petersen, a 62 year-old man from Waikanae, has appeared in the Wellington District Court and was sentenced to an additional six months imprisonment for failing to pay reparation of $110,000 to the victims of his fraud as had been ordered when he was sentenced in March 2011.

Petersen was previously sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment. He had previously pled guilty to 13 counts of theft by a person required to account, 19 counts of theft by person in special relationship, one count of using a document with intent to defraud and one count of dishonestly using a document, laid by the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”).

SFO Chief Executive, Adam Feeley, said “It is imperative that the plight of victims is at the heart of everything the SFO does, and reparations can be a very effective form of redress to victims of serious financial crime. We hope that the additional sentence in this serves to deter persons from failing to pay their dues, and provides some alternative redress to the victims of Mr Petersen.”

The charges relate to the misuse of approximately $2M of client funds over a 13 year period.  Several of the victims made complaints to the Kapiti Police who undertook initial investigations before referring the matter to the SFO.