An insurance broker who used clients' payments to pay his rent and wages has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison.
Grant Malcolm Herbert, 64, has been found guilty in the Auckland District Court of 24 charges and not guilty of two others.
He ran Herbert Insurance Group which owed $3.1 million to insurers when it was liquidated in 2011.
Instead of forwarding $2.5 million of clients' premiums to insurers, Herbert used the money to pay wages and rent. In some cases customers were left uninsured.
Judge Brooke Gibson said Herbert breached the trust of clients and insurers but he had suffered significantly personally.
He said he was bankrupt and his career as a successful businessman was in tatters.
