UPDATED- NBR understands the person to be arrested by the Serious Fraud Office in connection with an alleged multi-million dollar ponzi scheme is not anyone already publicly exposed.A reliable source said the person whom SFO director Adam Feeley said woul
UPDATED- NBR understands the person to be arrested by the Serious Fraud Office in connection with an alleged multi-million dollar ponzi scheme is not anyone already publicly exposed.
A reliable source said the person whom SFO director Adam Feeley said would be arrested today is a "new face" who has not attracted any previous publicity.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will make an arrest today in a case NBR understands involves tens of millions of dollars of investor losses.
READ ALSO: SFO arrest target should already know
News of the arrest came as SFO chief executive Adam Feeley appeared before Parliament's Law and Order select committee yesterday.
Asked to explain how the SFO pursues its investigations and uses other organisations and contractors, he dramatically gave the arrest tomorrow as an example.
Mr Feeley said that the investigation commenced after a phone call from the registrar of companies to him saying “we’ve received a complaint in respect of an investment, fraud we believe, Ponzi scheme, we think you guys need to be there.”
At the time, the matter appeared to be “nothing more than a regulatory Companies Act matter” but quickly became an SFO investigation, with additional assistance from Companies Office staff.
“And the outcome, as I said, will be tomorrow an arrest and some serious criminal charges,” Mr Feeley told the committee.
“A very simple but effective use of two sets of statute powers, two organisations working through simply picking up the phone and calling and working together.”
Speaking to media after the select committee hearing, Mr Feeley declined to comment further on the investigation or arrest, saying only that a “significant” sum of money is involved.
The Serious Fraud Office lists on its website a number of investigations currently active. Those dealing with investor money, and with more than $20m in losses, include:
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