Dominion Finance’s Cropp jailed for 2 years 7 months

Dominion Finance’s Cropp jailed for 2 years 7 months

May 23 (BusinessDesk) - Paul Cropp, the former chief executive of failed lenders Dominion Finance and North South Finance, has been jailed for two years and seven months after being convicted on fraud charges last month.

Cropp was sentenced in the High Court in Auckland having been found guilty of four charges leveled by the Serious Fraud Office over related party lending of some $13.6 million, which breached the lenders’ trust deed, the white-collar crime investigator said in a statement.

“This outcome sends a message to those managing and controlling public issuers that they will be accountable for their conduct,” acting SFO chief executive Simon McArley said. “Hopefully this and the other successfully completed finance company prosecutions will begin to restore the public’s confidence in the integrity of our financial markets and savings institutions.”

Former director Robert Whale and another associate with name suppression were found not guilty of five and three charges respectively, though Whale today pleaded guilty to charges of making misleading statements in the lender’s offer documents.

Dominion Finance Group had 5,937 debenture holders with $176.9 million invested at the time of receivership in 2008. North South Finance was put in receivership in 2010. Both were subsidiaries of NZX-listed Dominion Finance Holdings, which was placed in liquidation in 2009.

(BusinessDesk)

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