Strategic Planning’s Robinson jailed for six years over fraud

Andrew Robinson, a struck off financial adviser and former director of Strategic Planning Group, has been jailed for six years after pleading guilty to fraud charges earlier this year.

Robinson was sentenced in the High Court in Auckland today, having pleaded guilty to five charges of theft by a person in a special relationship and one charge of dishonestly using a document in May this year, the Serious Fraud Office said in a statement. Robinson stole $2.7 million of investor funds to repay other investors and cover various business and personal expenses, then made false statements in investment reports to hide the picture from investors.

“As an investment adviser, Mr Robinson was in a position of trust and his breach of that trust is reflected in the sentence imposed today,” SFO director Julie Read said. “The prosecution of such matters is an important aspect of protecting New Zealand’s reputation as a safe place to invest and do business and protects investors from those who fail to conduct business in accordance with the expectations of a reputable market.”

The white-collar crime investigator launched an investigation in tandem with the Financial Markets Authority in December 2012 after an investor in SPG complained to the regulator. Robinson was the second person to have his status as an Authorised Financial Adviser stripped by the regulator after convicted Ponzi fraudster David Ross.

Last year Robinson was ordered to repay $2.56 million plus damages to a former investor over a series of negligent and misleading deals, after Neville Mace and his family took a civil claim against him in the High Court.

Robinson still faces charges laid by the FMA.

(BusinessDesk)