The New Zealand Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has announced two court decisions that will have victims of Steven Robertson and Rodney McCall receive a portion of their money back. McCall was also sentenced to 12 months’ home detention for his crimes.
The Auckland High Court approved a pro-rata distribution methodology on Friday for creditors of PTT Limited, Robertson and his associated entities. Proposed by the receivers and liquidators of PTT, the methodology was supported by the FMA as being in the interests of victims. Receivers and liquidators estimate that victims are expected to receive around 59 cents in the dollar.
McCall, also known as Rodney Crichton, was sentenced separately yesterday to 12 months’ home detention and to repay victims $70,031 for convincing them to ‘invest’ in him and spending their money on himself. McCall’s offending was separate to Robertson’s, although his initial victims had also invested in PTT Limited.
Nick Kynoch, FMA General Counsel, said the FMA recognised many victims of Robertson and McCall had suffered significant losses and distress. The New Zealand regulator was pleased these investors would soon start to receive some of their money back.
Victims of Robertson and McCall had their trust abused and many were plunged into financial uncertainty as a result, some fearing for their retirement prospects. Mr McCall’s sentence reflects the consequences for continuing the PTT scam. He reinvented the scam through a new entity, despite being aware of the FMA’s investigation into PTT and Mr Robertson. This allowed him to continue to target mainly elderly people solely for his own personal gain, many of whom were re-victimised, having been subject to Mr Robertson’s fraud in the first instance.
In addition, Mr McCall lied to FMA investigators in an attempt to avoid detection so he could continue to perpetuate his scam. We would like to thank investors who came forward and assisted with the investigation.
We urge New Zealanders to take extreme care before investing their money and to always use an FMA-licensed provider.
Experienced writer and journalist, working in the global online trading sector, Steffy is the Editor of LeapRate. She has previous experience as a copywriter and has been with the company since January 2020. Steffy has a British and American Studies degree from St. Kliment Ochridski University in Sofia.
