A Christchurch businessman behind a $103 million fraud that funded his 'lavish'' and "grandiose'' jet-setter's lifestyle was jailed for eight years today.
Gavin Clifford Bennett, the 54-year-old former owner of IT firm DataSouth, had earlier admitted the massive Ponzi-style scheme, which took embattled South Canterbury Finance for "at least'' $23m.
He was caught only after one of the Serious Fraud Office's largest ever investigations.
Now, he is behind bars after a judge at the Christchurch District Court sentenced him to eight years with a minimum non-parole period of three and a half years.
Bennett pocketed millions from the six-year scam which he used to bankroll his high-rolling lifestyle - which Judge Jane Farish today described as "exorbitant'' and "extraordinary.''
He partied with models and actresses, was chauffeured in BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars and ``drank Dom Perignon like it was Speight's''.
The SFO said he rented two luxury waterfront flats in the swanky Rocks area of Sydney for A$463,000 and made regular payments to "various female companions'' totalling A$900,000.
A staggering A$429,000 was spent on food and beverages, of which "a significant amount'' was spent at the ritzy Hemmesphere bar and restaurant, where the cheapest bottle of Dom Perignon goes for around $480 and where he was given VIP treatment.
A further A$161,000 was spent on international air travel to Argentina, New York, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, New Caledonia, Rio de Janerio, San Francisco, Paris and London.
Jewellery and flowers, including purchases at Tiffany & Co, amounted to A$16,000, and he spent a further A$163,000 on clothes and apparel from Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Barney's and Bloomingdales in New York, Victoria's Secret, Paul Smith, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, and Harrods of London.
Judge Farish was staggered by the scale of the swindle, telling him: ``This was an unprecedented level of fraud in our criminal history.
"The company was your alter ego Mr Bennett, and your alter ego got away from you.''
Although the SFO say it was a $103m fraud, his defence counsel James Rapley rejected that figure today, saying the figure was $64.5m.
He said it was difficult to estimate the personal gain for his client, but accepted it was "in the millions''.
Mr Rapley also said Bennett "lived the high life'' on the profit from his scheme, which was "doomed to failure''.
The lawyer said Bennett would find prison "very difficult''.
In March, Bennett pleaded guilty to six representative charges under the Crimes Act relating to 894 separate incidents of dishonesty using a document, and a further two charges of false accounting.
Between April 2005 and March 2011, he was the sole director of Christchurch-based Datasouth Group where he orchestrated the bold scam.
The trained accountant created false documents relating to the lease of IT equipment to fraudulently obtain funds from South Canterbury Finance totalling $65.5m and falsified entries in Datasouth Finance financial statements by an estimated $38m in order to retain the ongoing finance facility.
The resulting loss to SCF was at least $23m.
Bennett used the dishonestly obtained funds to repay earlier false lease agreements in a manner similar to a Ponzi scheme and to meet business expenses.
At court today, SFO prosecutor Sarah Allen said dismissed Bennett's notions that his crimes were victimless.
"He may not have intended the taxpayer to make a loss, but they have, to the tune of $23m,'' she said.
One former worker earlier told how Bennett was ferried around in chauffeur-driven BMW and Mercedes services _ which cost more than A$50,000 in corporate car services.
The ex-worker told of "lavish'' office parties and being whisked across the Tasman to hit Sydney's exclusive hot-spots where Bennett ``drank Dom Perignon like it was Speight's''.
The other "running joke'' with Bennett's employees was his lust for beautiful women.
He was often spotted in trendy Sydney bars with models and actresses.
"We called them `Gav girls'. They were never far away,'' the Christchurch ex-employee said.
Bennett moved to Sydney in around 2006 or 2007, shortly after breaking up with his wife of 20 or so years, Jane.
Datasouth, which Bennett launched in 1993, went into liquidation last March, leaving all 31 staff out of jobs.
SFO chief executive Adam Feeley welcomed the sentence and the conclusion of the case.
"This was a cynical fraud to inflate one man's business ego and allow him to live a life of luxury while his staff struggled to keep the business afloat,'' he said.
"His crimes, which were uncovered soon after the Christchurch earthquake, resulted in 31 people losing their jobs at the worst possible time for the city.''
