A Dunedin lawyer has today admitted being behind a Ponzi scheme where he stole $2.8 million from clients over 21 years.
John David Milne, a 79-year-old lawyer from Dunedin, admitted the long-term fraud on the morning his Christchurch District Court trial was set to begin.He pleaded guilty to 34 charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) that included theft by a person in special relationship and misappropriation of funds.

A summary of facts will be ready for when Milne is...

A director of a failed finance company has had his application for leave to appeal dismissed from the country's highest court. Former National Finance director Anthony David Banbrook had applied for leave to appeal at the Supreme Court following a dismissal from the Court of Appeal. Banbrook had applied to appeal his conviction of making an untrue statement in a prospectus. The senior litigation lawyer was sentenced to eight and a half months' home detention and was ordered to pay $75,000 re...

A life ban for a lawyer accused of stealing $3 million from clients was "the only appropriate penalty", the Law Society says. John Milne, a lawyer from Dunedin, is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office over the long-term fraud allegations. Today, a Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal decided to strike him off its roll of barristers and solicitors. Milne appeared at the tribunal in Christchurch this morning after four professional misconduct charges were brought by the Otago St...