A former employee of Sir Peter Jackson has been jailed for selling planes belonging to the movie director without his knowledge and keeping the money.
Gene DeMarco with a partly reconstructed Albatros DVa airplane. Photo: RNZ / Ruth Beran
Eugene (Gene) DeMarco was found guilty of six counts of fraud after a High Court trial in Wellington.
DeMarco, a former production manager at Sir Peter's company, The Vintage Aviator, was convicted over the sale of three reproduction vintage aircraft to the New Zealand Warbirds Association and using one as security to obtain a loan.
The Serious Fraud Office said DeMarco broke the law to rid himself of a debt of more than $1 million he owed to a trust controlled by Sir Peter and Dame Fran Walsh.
Sir Peter told an earlier court hearing the "first inkling" a plane had been sold came when the Civil Aviation Authority asked for a fee to change the ownership of the plane. He then saw a photo of his plane on a Facebook page, dated November 2016, in the Warbirds' hangar.
Justice Clark at the High Court in Wellington sentenced DeMarco to two years and five months in prison.
She said DeMarco put careful thought into the fraud over many months and has caused significant harm to The Vintage Aviator's reputation, staff and morale.
"You have destroyed The Vintage Aviator's relationships with Warbirds - a key player in the promotion and acquisition of vintage aircraft," she said.
"Further, The Vintage Aviator has suffered considerable loss - it lost the opportunity to make the sales to Warbirds - which had to be cancelled - and it had to cease production for 10 months while the Serious Fraud Office carried out its investigation into your offending."
Justice Clark said several staff had left the business and were hard to replace.
The proceedings had cost The Vintage Aviator a significant amount of money, she said.
But Justice Clark acknowledged DeMarco had a young family - his partner has a baby on the way - and took that into account with the sentence.
There were sobs in the back of the court as DeMarco was led away by security.