$45m in limbo: Elderly investors put millions into firm now under investigation

Thursday, 15 January 2026

Bernard Whimp is the head of the Chance Voight group of investment companies, which has received more than $45m from investors over the past four years.

Six Chance Voight companies have been placed into interim liquidation amid an investigation by the Financial Markets Authority.

Stuff understands that some of the more than 100 investors are elderly.

An investment firm headed by a controversial businessman with a chequered past received more than $45 million from dozens of investors, some of them elderly, before being placed into interim liquidation amid an investigation by the financial markets watchdog.

Bernard Whimp is the man behind the Chance Voight group - 27 companies under the same umbrella that purport to earn returns on investments from ordinary people. Six of the companies were placed into interim liquidation by the High Court late last year.

The Financial Market Authority (FMA) applied for the liquidations as it investigated Chance Voight, Whimp and associated entities. The probe is related to concerns around poorly kept books and potential insolvent trading.

Chance Voight has received more than $45m from investors over the past four years, according to FMA records provided to the High Court. Approximately $29m of that was deposited in the past year, the records say.

Stuff understands that some of the more than 100 investors are elderly.

Do you know more? Email jake.kenny@stuffdigital.co.nz in confidence.

Whimp rejects the allegations against him and Chance Voight, saying he’s the victim of an “appalling miscarriage of justice”.

He has fought unsuccessfully to have the liquidations removed, delayed, and not be publicly advertised.

The High Court has temporarily barred him from moving any assets overseas while the FMA investigation is ongoing.

The Chance Voight group of companies have used a single bank account for all group transactions since November 2024, according to court documents. This, as well as other concerns surrounding record keeping, poor disclosure of information and non-compliance, led the FMA to say it believed that some invested funds were being used outside agreed terms, and that five of the six companies subject to interim liquidations were insolvent.

Outside of investments, there was little evidence of other sources of income for the Chance Voight group, the FMA alleged. According to court documents, the authority claimed the entities were likely interdependent on one another’s financial support, and it appeared new investor funds were routinely being sought to meet outgoings, including interest and capital repayment obligations to existing investors.

In its application for interim liquidation, lawyers for the FMA said Chance Voight Investment Corporation Ltd - the lead company in the group and first defendant in the liquidation proceedings - had made a financial loss each financial year since the year ended March 2022. Its liabilities had exceeded its assets for each of those years, the authority’s lawyers said.

There was nothing to indicate any of the companies’ trading positions had substantially improved since then, they said.

In his judgment placing the Chance Voight group companies into interim liquidation, Associate Judge Dale Lester said: “The factor that I consider most significant…is that the group appears to be dependent on issuing new debt securities to raise cash to meet redemption and interest payment obligations on existing debt securities.”

According to his judgment, a chartered accountant for the FMA concluded that the only way the Chance Voight group could be solvent was if there were significant unrecorded inwards cashflow or assets not referred to in information provided by Whimp, which was considered to be “most unlikely”.

It says Whimp told the FMA that the group was solvent and said any issues with record keeping were down to a staff issue.

“This amounts to an acceptance [that] the group’s records have been substandard, albeit with an excuse being raised,” Associate Judge Lester said.

“There is no good reason for their failure to provide the required disclosure over an extended period. Either accounting records as required have not been kept or those records show the company is insolvent.”

The judge said: “I am satisfied that there is also reason to believe that there have been serious and persistent breaches of the Act by the group. The situation is quite unsatisfactory for companies raising money from the public.”

Lawyers on behalf of Whimp urgently applied for a stay of the interim liquidations and its public notification in mid-December.

The applications were refused by Associate Judge Lester.

“Inherent in making the orders for interim liquidation is that I accepted the submissions on behalf of the FMA that there was an urgent need to preserve the assets of the defendant companies,” the judge said.

“Also inherent in the orders is acceptance that the directors of the companies cannot be relied on to achieve that objective.”

Whimp told Stuff the High Court judgments to date had been one sided with Chance Voight not having been heard.

“I think as things progress, they will not be worth the paper they are printed on,” he said.

“They are riddled with inaccuracies. The companies aren’t insolvent. Our record keeping is outstanding.”

Whimp said none of the allegations made against him or Chance Voight were credible, and were not borne out by the evidence.

“This is an appalling miscarriage of justice.”

Asked why he thought the FMA was investigating him and his companies, Whimp said: “For reasons that seem to be scandalous. There is nothing wrong with me and there is nothing wrong with Chance Voight.

“No one in the FMA understands Chance Voight. It is not our job to form a business that the FMA understands.”

Asked if investors were elderly, Whimp said: “The demographic in New Zealand that invests tends to be 50 plus. They are not vulnerable, elderly people. They are switched on, thoughtful people.

“While I ran Chance Voight no one ever lost money. We have an immaculate track record in that respect,” he said.

“What more can the population ask for?”

He said he would comment further after an expected High Court hearing in February.

Malcolm Hollis, John Fisk and Lara Bennett of PwC have been appointed interim liquidators and were to provide a state of affairs of the group to the court by January 26. They have been contacting investors and liaising with Whimp directly.

“The interim liquidators have been, and will continue to be, in direct communication with impacted investors,” a PwC spokesperson said. A further update would be provided following the January 26 update to the High Court, subject to material arising, they said.

The 44 employees of the six Chance Voight companies subject to interim liquidation were sent home, according to court documents.

In a statement in December, FMA head of enforcement Margot Gatland warned investors to seek urgent financial advice before handing over more money to Whimp.

“The FMA understands Mr Whimp has recently contacted Chance Voight investors about the interim liquidation and has, amongst other things, sought payments which he has described as donations to fund legal expenses,” Gatland said.

“The FMA recommends that investors fully inform themselves before providing any funds to Mr Whimp.”

It is not Whimp’s first run-in with the markets watchdog, or the High Court.

He was declared bankrupt in 1998 but discharged three years later after reaching an agreement with his creditors.

In June 2003, the Financial Markets Authority, then known as the Securities Commission, ordered General Mortgage - a company of which Bernard Whimp was controlling manager - to cease acting as a contributory mortgage broker because it 'failed to meet the standard of care and governance expected from those who raise funds from the public'.

Companies Office records show Whimp was banned from acting as a director from September 2007 to September 2012.

He came under the commission’s spotlight again in 2010 when he started making offers for shares below their listed prices in various companies, many of them trading on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) for considerably higher prices.

The actions were later found by the High Court to be “misleading and deceptive” designed to “catch some smaller shareholders off guard”. Injunctions were granted preventing Whimp from receiving the shares. Stricter regulations were introduced the following year.

Whimp founded Chance Voight in 2021.

He was raised in Christchurch and is currently based in Rangiora.