However, AIG commission records associated with the ANZ legacy products indicated commission payments were made payable to a bank account owned by Waller’s business, Nutfields Management.

These payments would then be transferred out of Waller’s business bank account and into personal accounts, including his Airpoints Visa Platinum account, a car payment account and another for bill payments.

Waller was entitled to these commissions while employed with ING, however after ending his employment in 2005, the payments should have ceased.

He instead continued to receive commission payments from June 27, 2006 until January 31, 2022, totalling $773,448.67.

Instead of alerting AIG Insurance or ANZ about the issue, Waller continued to transfer the funds to his own accounts for personal use.

It was not until April 2022 that ANZ became aware of the closure of ANZ-named insurance products following a review and found the discrepancy.

Crown lawyer Clare Antenen sought a starting point of four to four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment and requested a reparation order to repay ANZ for the funds.

Arguing on his behalf, defence lawyer Guyon Foley described Waller as an “innovative man, not a man who pays attention to detail”, and that the payments “were a commission for a business idea”.

“It was a crime, and his life as you can imagine, has been turned upside down,” Foley said.

He said Waller had no previous convictions and worked his entire life as a “respected businessman”, noting he currently runs a business with eight employees.

Waller was initially intending to go to trial to fight the charge, but came to the conclusion that the cost of the trial and the stress of a jury would not be worth it, instead submitting a guilty plea on August 29.

Foley acknowledged Waller’s actions were “reckless”, but not that of a fraudster, noting that he was not responsible for setting up the payment system.

He also stressed that the commission slips detailing the payments had the name of Waller’s business, and would have been identifiable if investigated sooner.

Foley said Waller had expressed his “sincere remorse and humility” in a letter to the judge before sentencing.

However, Justice Kirsten Lummis said she did not feel that remorse within the pre-sentence report, noting his reluctance to plead guilty in the first instance was perhaps a sign of this.

“It’s uncertain to me as to why he wouldn’t have known, with his experience,” Judge Lummis said.

Judge Lummis referred to impact statements from Waller’s wife and daughter, who were in attendance along with two of his friends, although did not read them out in full.

They described Waller as a “hard-working, good father who has love and care for his employees” and someone “known for his kindness”.

Waller’s family and friends were visibly upset during the sentencing, often sharing glances with Waller, who was in the stand.

Foley raised the importance of Waller’s current health status, noting he is a type-one diabetic. Waller also sustained a heart attack in 2018 and underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2020, with his doctor describing his health as “unstable”.

During the sentencing, Waller held prescription medication and a monitoring device on his person, with Foley explaining he brought the items with him in case he was sentenced to imprisonment.

When considering whether reparations should be made to ANZ, Antenen sought a reparation order but couldn’t suggest an amount to be repaid as she had not been given evidence of Waller’s financial position.

She agreed with Judge Lummis that it was not realistic for the full amount to be repaid and reiterated that a percentage after living expenses were paid would suffice.

However, Foley contested the need for a reparation order, arguing that the amount lost by ANZ was “negligible”, given the bank’s $2.36 billion profit in its last financial result.

Foley had also advised Waller to set aside $50,000 that was originally going to cover expenses for a potential trial to instead be offered at sentencing for reparation.

However, Waller chose to use these funds for his current business to ensure his employees would receive appropriate remuneration over the Christmas break.

Considering the circumstances, Foley requested a starting point of three years’ imprisonment for Waller, discounted to home detention.

In deciding her sentence, Judge Lummis said the quantum of money received was the largest aggravating factor.

“That is significant and none of those funds have been recovered.”

While there was no victim impact statement from ANZ, Judge Lummis said the bank’s investigation required a high amount of work that “could have been spent in other ways”.

“There is a wider victim in terms of all of ANZ’s customers who in some ways will be paying for any losses that ANZ makes, in a general way.”

Judge Lummis settled on a starting point of three-and-a-half years’ imprisonment.

After considering his early guilty plea and his prior good behaviour, noting he had never been in court before, Judge Lummis discounted his sentence by 40%, resulting in 25 months’ imprisonment.

Judge Lummis acknowledged that the sentence was higher than what would be considered appropriate for home detention, and offered “an act of mercy from the court” for a further reduction to allow the end sentence to be one of home detention.

“You are someone who has stayed on the right side of the law and got on with making an honest living over a considerable period of time.

“From everything I’ve read about you, I take it the court will not be seeing you again and this has been a considerable shock to you. I hope you will make every effort to repay ANZ and make payments to them.”

Waller was sentenced to 12 months’ home detention at his Mairangi Bay property.

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.