Investors who lost money in the country's biggest ever Ponzi scheme have made emotional statements at court this morning, telling the man at the centre of a $380 million fraud to "rot in hell".

David Robert Gilmour Ross, 63, pleaded guilty in August to all charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) in relation to what is thought to be the country's biggest ever Ponzi scheme.

An investigation into Ross Asset Management last year uncovered the scheme ran for at least 12 years, and affected more than 1200 clients.
Investors have packed out the public gallery in the Wellington District Court today to see Ross sentenced, and four have read statements to the court.

One investor told Ross to "show some guts" and look him in the eye while he was reading his statement.
He then told Ross to "rot in hell".Another investor broke down in tears as she told of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars she had saved to provide for the future of her severely disabled child.

The Crown lawyer has asked for a starting point of 15 years in prison for Ross with a minimum jail term of 10 years and six months, saying that his offending is the worst of its kind seen in New Zealand.Ross' lawyer, Gary Turkington, said his client had now taken the shirt off his back to provide all his remaining assets to the receiver to go to victims.

The sentencing judge, Denys Barry, told Ross he had created a complex web of deceit and was a liar and a thief.
He told the court Ross had bought misery on hundreds of people, including frail elderly people.

The judge said any reparations available to victims would be a drop in the bucket and no sentence can help them or even provide solice.

Credit TV3