Prominent Mildura accountant Philip Shugg is counting the days until he receives his prison sentence.

The 72-year-old pleaded guilty to four counts of fraudulently inducing people to invest money.

It is an offence that ordinarily carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment.

But because of the scale and frequency of Shugg’s actions, has now been classed as a continuing criminal enterprise offence.

Such offences carry a maximum sentence of 25 years imprisonment in Victoria.

The offences were recognised as continuing criminal enterprise offences during a County Court plea hearing on Wednesday.

Breaching trust

Shugg traded under the business name Shugg Consulting in Mildura, in Victoria’s north-west.

The court heard that between 2012 and 2016 he urged multiple victims to invest in an investment company called Deakin Investments.

Once they agreed to invest their funds with him, Shugg created a self-managed super fund for them, the court heard.

He had promised the victims a high return on a “fully secure, no risk” investment at an interest rate of up to four per cent.

He would provide the victims with distribution statements, indicating the balance of their investment, claiming it was sound.

In reality it was far from it.

The bankruptcy

Shugg was part of what the prosecution has labelled a Ponzi scheme.

Once he had control of his client’s funds, he would use those deposited funds to pay out other clients to whom he owed money.

The court had previously heard he would also shift money around between clients’ accounts, giving the impression the investments were working.

He ultimately declared bankruptcy in 2018 for other business dealings.

The court heard that four victims, who collectively had invested $950,000 in Deakin Investments, requested that some or all of their funds be repaid.

One victim invested $150,000 and got $42,932 back, another invested $250,000 and got $215,000 back.

Each of the four victims suffered a significant loss on their investment, and some were not repaid a single cent.

False profits

Sean Brown knew Shugg for about 14 years and considered him an acquaintance.

He was advised to transfer funds from his own self-managed super fund into Deakin Investments in 2016 so money would be readily available to purchase a commercial property.

Across the following two years Mr Brown regularly met with Shugg, who assured him the investment was doing fine.

Mr Brown never received an investment payout, nor was his original investment returned to him.

He said the loss of the funds had a devastating effect not only on his financial security, but his health and relationships.

“It’s a whole raft of emotions, it’s anger from the start,” Mr Brown said.

“You go through loss, the same as any loss.

“There’s certain professions that you should be able to trust.

“He’s not the first in town that has done it, he probably won’t be the last, but he’s the one that caught us.”

Forced to work

Chris Greig lost the most money of any of the four victims.

The now 77-year-old deposited $300,000 in Deakin Investments in 2012.

A forensic analysis showed the majority of the funds were disbursed from Deakin Investments within two months.

Mr Greig has not received any of his funds back from Shugg.

In a victim impact statement he read to the County Court on Wednesday, Mr Greig said he was “duped by a criminal” and had lost his retirement fund.

He said he is continuing to work part time due to the actions of “an assured scoundrel”.

The day after the plea hearing, Mr Greig was still angry.

“The money was without a doubt the main concern, but it was totally covered by the breach of trust and it still continues,” he said.

“I feel sick every time I think about it.

“It’s people’s money and it’s their livelihoods.

“I’ve been damaged and that’s hard to take when you’re used to being involved with business.

“When you trust someone else, you expect to get the same back.”

The sentencing

Judge Mark Gamble said he was required to fix a head sentence and a non-parole period for Shugg’s offending.

Central to the Crown’s case is evidence that Shugg “robbed Peter to pay Paul” and “deceived genuine and decent people”.

The defence acknowledged that Shugg knows he is going to prison, but had entered a plea at the earliest opportunity.

They argued Shugg had not demonstrated a lavish lifestyle or purchased luxury items during the offending.

Judge Gamble said that might arguably make the offending worse, as Shugg was “making considered choices” to deceive people who put their personal trust in him.

He will be sentenced in March next year.