Ponzi scheme fraudster Gunter Lang pleads guilty after fleecing almost $6.5 million
A Gladstone Park pensioner, posing as a high-flying stock market guru, left many victims of his multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme in financial ruin, while concocting an elaborate web of lies to keep the deceit going.
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A retired pensioner posing as a stock market heavy-hitter fleeced millions through a failed Ponzi scheme.
Gunter Lang, 80, fronted the County Court yesterday (April 27) after pleading guilty to 33 charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
The court heard Lang rinsed almost $6.5 million from 30 victims between January 2014 and September 2015.
The Gladstone Park pensioner prowled stockmarket share seminars targeting investors for his company G. A. Lang & Associates.
Lang presented as a bogus chief executive and accredited trader who could deliver fat returns on low-risk investments.
However, Lang’s stock market knowledge was mainly limited to what he had read on the internet, the court heard.
Lang was not allowed to open his own online trading account so he traded through an account opened by his son Anthony.
Lang told investors he was making “substantial profits” but in reality he was haemorrhaging cash.
He tried to “trade himself out of trouble” by investing in “high risk” US and German shares but this move just “accelerated” the losses.
Lang dropped $738,000 on ATM withdrawals, household goods and credit cards but the rest of his victims’ millions went down the drain.
His son also spent $16,200 on a car, the court heard.
Lang spun various lies including telling victims his “hacked” trading account had been “frozen by ASIC and the Federal Police”.
He also told victims their investments had returned a profit and he had already “credited” their accounts.
Lang concocted a final fib when he realised the jig was up by telling victims their money had been stolen but insurance would cover the loss.
Lang’s victims – many of whom were elderly retirees – lost everything when he declared bankruptcy in February 2016.
One victim lost $3.4 million, while another lost $1.1 million from their late-mother’s estate.
Many victims said they were suffering physical and emotional stress after being left financial destitute.
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At least one victim contemplated suicide.
Judge Michael O’Connell found it “extraordinary” Lang was able move so much cash.
“It seems a lot of money for someone to be dealing with … who is just sitting at home,” Judge O’Connell said.
Lang will be sentenced at a later date.