An Otago victim of former Dunedin lawyer John Milne says his retirement plans are ''financially crippled'' .
After investing more than $1 million with disgraced Milne (79), who was sentenced to more than eight years' jail yesterday, the victim said the fraud had left his financial plans ''in a poor state''.
''I've had 29 months of sleepless nights, agonising over it all,'' he said of the time elapsed from the initial allegation to sentencing.
While having been regularly paid interest by Milne, right up until the fraud became public in June 2012, there was no repayment of the $1 million capital.
The man was asked if the eight-year sentence offered some closure''Fair enough, he deserved what he got.
But it has financially crippled me, going into retirement,'' he said.
''At least he won't be enjoying life at the moment.''
Court suppression means the victims cannot be identified.
The loss has also meant the man cannot pay for knee and hip surgery and he has had to cancel overseas trips to visit family.
He was introduced to Milne to do property conveyancing in the early 2000s.
At that time, Milne offered the man 10% interest, by using the victim's cash in bridging finance deals.
The man says Milne had later offered him title to mortgaged properties, but some of it never became registered, and he later got ''some money'' back from property sales.
''[However] I should have woken up earlier, that personal loan guarantees are worth nothing,'' he said.
A family member of the man was also persuaded to put a more than $10,000 nest egg into Milne's hands, which was also never repaid.
Many of Milne's victims were described at yesterday's sentencing as ''easy targets''.
Judge Jane Farish said the 21 victim impact statements made for ''very sad and distressing reading''.
One statement read to the court outlined the sad case of a 69-year old victim.
The man had known Milne - a practising lawyer since 1960 - since about 1996 and considered him a friend.
During one meeting, Milne told him if he ever had ''any spare money'' he could get him a good interest rate on it.
Milne took the money and they never saw it again.
The couple are now struggling to enjoy retirement, living off their pensions, and battling ill health.
One victim told Milne she had lost a lost of money in finance companies and could not afford to lose any more.
But he still took her money, spent it, and ''constantly assured her it was safe, when it was gone'', the court heard.
Defence counsel Karen Feltham said ''since he was a boy, he's borrowed and repaid''.
''He thought, to start off with, that he was able to do so,'' she said.
Ms Feltham said the scam was not designed to fund an extravagant lifestyle.
''He's gained nothing with respect financially from these transactions, as opposed to [former Bridgecorp boss Rod] Petricevic and others who lived a very expensive lifestyle.
''This man hasn't,'' she said.
- Additional reporting NZME.
