A bankrupt real estate agent's new home is a prison cell for the next three years after being sentenced for a "misguided and arrogant" attempt at investment.
Daniel Leslie Harris, 47, was jailed for at least three years on Friday over the scheme he ran from 2010 until his arrest in 2018, a period in which he occasionally allayed his victims' concerns while ignoring many signs their investments were doomed.
Harris told investors, some he went to school with, others he met through his wife, that their money could be rolled out of their superannuation funds into self-managed accounts that would be invested in property through a unit trust. But the latter did not exist.
"There were many times he should have realised the scheme was hopeless," NSW District Court Judge Leonie Flannery said when sentencing Harris in Sydney on Friday.
"His failure to do so was reckless."
Signs included Harris learning much of the funds had already been consumed, before the liquidation of a contracted builder in 2011, leading to losses insurance would not wholly cover.
He continued with no independent accounting oversight despite it becoming apparent a holding company had debts of about $56,000 and another linked to the scheme could not get loans, and after the corporate watchdog barked a warning about his continued promotion of the scheme.
A jury found Harris guilty following a four-month trial on 115 charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception in July. Investors' losses exceeded $1.1 million.
He knew the investors trusted him and had little experience themselves, representing to them he would invest their money through a unit trust that he also knew did not exist, the judge found.
Some of the defrauded investors included people attracted by the prospect of owning their own property.
When one investing couple asked, before losing more than $133,000, if Harris had any financial qualifications, he confirmed he did not and said he did not need any.
However, Harris was not just in it for himself and hoped the scheme would return profits for the investors, which included him and his former wife.
"(Harris) determined to continue in a misguided and arrogant attempt to make it work," the judge said.
A partial explanation for this was offered by a psychologist describing narcissistic tendencies, characterised by arrogance and lack of self-insight, with Judge Flannery finding Harris had only offered a "very qualified acceptance of responsibility" for his offending.
She sentenced Harris to five years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of three years.
Harris has been on bail and will be eligible for release in November 2026.
