A judge says a man jailed for defrauding fellow churchgoers out of $853,215 manipulated their Christian values.
Damas Flohr was sentenced in the Dunedin District Court on Tuesday to four years in prison after admitting seven counts of fraud during his trial in November last year.
The 69-year-old persuaded the pastor and six other members of his Dunedin Seventh Day Adventist Church to give him money which he promised would unlock more than $30 million overseas from land deals and a Nigerian oil contract.
Sentencing him, Judge Michael Crosbie said Flohr's fraud was large scale with multiple victims over a period of one or two years and that he had manipulated their Christian ethos.
Judge Crosbie told Flohr he caused great harm to vulnerable and somewhat naive church friends.
The judge warned that Flohr is at a high risk of reoffending because he still believes the money is in accounts overseas waiting for him.
Flohr was also ordered to pay reparations amounting to two-thirds of the money if he ever has the means.
