Ross investor loses name suppression - report

The Ross Asset Management investor who liquidators are trying to claw back $954,000 from will lose name suppression, a report says.

In March, the first of three test claims against Ross Asset Management investors who collectively withdrew $3.8 million in fictitious profits before the Ponzi scheme’s collapse was heard in the High Court at Wellington.

The person who obtained a $500,000 bank loan to invest in Ross Asset Management received interim name suppression but this was set to be revisited once the case was resolved.

Today, Fairfax Media reports Justice Alan MacKenzie has ruled that an application by the investor for permanent name suppression has been refused.

Interim name suppression will continue until the substantive judgment is released, at which point it will expire.

The application against name suppression was heard in the High Court at Wellington on April 17.

Fairfax Media reports Justice MacKenzie cited a NBR ONLINE story following the March hearing, in which it was reported the investor was understood to be a “Wellington property developer.”

The judgment reportedly says there is no suggestion the investor had some inside knowledge and that the possibility of harm to others was a serious consideration for name suppression.

“The direct consequence of that news item is that another person has been wrongly identified as the person concerned," Fairfax Media reports from the judgment.

In the week before the first clawback hearing, the investor withdrew an application to have it kept secret.

Ross Asset Management director David Ross, 64, is serving 10 years and 10 months in jail for defrauding investors of about $115 million.

A judgment shows another of the clawback cases is against a company linked to a high-profile Wellingtonian, from which PwC is seeking $2.3 million.

The three investors are disputing the claims, with the other two cases to be heard later this year.

Ross’s fraud is the largest single such crime committed by an individual in New Zealand, affecting about 700 investors who thought they had portfolios worth about $380 million.