Former stock agent sentenced for fraud

A former livestock agent deceived Rural Livestock Ltd out of more than $1 million.

John Francis Williams, of Balclutha in South Otago, appeared before Justice David Gendall in the High Court in Dunedin yesterday.

The 40-year-old was sentenced on representative charges of false accounting, obtaining by deception, and a charge of causing loss by deception.

The Serious Fraud Office launched an investigation into the offending after it received a complaint by Rural Livestock, which recorded a direct loss of $1.34m.

Gendall said Williams’ victims were caught in ‘‘the web of your unfortunate transactions’’.

Williams was employed as a livestock agent with Rural Livestock from June 2008 till May 2016. The company is the largest privately owned livestock and station company in the South Island, with a head office in Christchurch.

It provides services including stock sale transactions, auctioneering and valuation services, and clearing sales.

The summary of facts said Williams was an agent for a number of farmers, for whom he facilitated stock transactions.

The farmers relied on Williams to file the correct paperwork with the company.

But between mid-2014 and mid-2016, those stock transactions were inconsistent with the company’s accounting records, leading to Williams being stood down on May 23, 2016, and resigning that August.

Williams defrauded his employer as well as his clients by submitting false sale notes related to livestock sales and leasing agreements. At times he presented himself as the vendor of animals he didn’t own, sold stock that did not exist, or created a fictitious entity.

This caused Rural Livestock to incorrectly invoice or credit farmers who knew nothing of the transactions or had relied on Williams’ handshake agreement.

Williams used false sale notes or gaps in the livestock transport, identification, tracing and management systems to disguise his offending.

The company suffered $1.3m in losses as a direct result of the offending and through compensating affected farmers.

The judge sentenced Williams to 12 months’ home detention, and ordered him to pay reparations of $250,000 to Rural Livestock in five working days, and a further $300,000, over a period of three years.