Last week the accomplice of one of New Zealand’s most daring, albeit stupid, swindlers finally pleaded guilty to his role in systematic mortgage frauds totaling almost fifty million dollars (NZ), a record value for little old New Zealand.
Simon Lawrence Wood Turnbull (image above) fled New Zealand almost a decade ago after he and his accomplice Malcolm Duncan Ingerman Mayer were first discovered to have rorted a number of finance companies, in particular mortgage lender Trustee Executors Limited, headed up by ex New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bulger (aka Spud), which took the brunt of the loses.
Of course LF had hoped to bring you this article on the 27th of October, but were prevented from doing so by the actions of another of New Zealand’s serial swindlers, Matthew John Blomfield.
New Zealand SFO Director Julie Read, an Australian and a woman who wasn’t even around when the Mayer/Turnbull case was handed to her subordinates on a plate.
Head of New Zealand’s Serious Fraud Office, Australian, Julie Read issued a statement which was picked up and parroted by most New Zealand’s mainstream media;
“Mortgage fraud is taken seriously by the SFO. In a housing market which has enough challenges for the honest buyer, further costs to borrowing because of other people’s dishonesty is not acceptable. The SFO welcomes the guilty plea today,” – Julie Read
Of course the SFO had very little to do with catching Mayer and Turnbull red handed. The case was in fact served-up to the SFO on a silver platter, complete with garnish. All of the damning evidence that ultimately convicted Mayer and caused Turnbull to eventually arrested this rear when trying to reenter the country this year after being on the run was in fact obtained by a group of justice campaigners – of course Kiwi’s can be forgiven for not knowing that, because as always the country’s MSM, in particular the New Zealand Herald, fail to tell the whole truth, as is their very nasty habit.
The Mayer/Turnbull case has it’s origins back in 2006/2007 and was actually first reported on by Fairfax investigative reporter Tony Wall, for the Sunday Star Times, in 2009;
The $50m swindler: I confess
Tony Wall
6th September 2009
Malcolm Mayer, a New Zealand representative bridge player, sips on a cup of instant coffee and admits to his part in a $50 million loans scam.
In an extraordinary interview with the Sunday Star-Times yesterday, the 53-year-old property developer casually described how he helped arrange a scheme whereby relatives and associates, including immigrants with virtually no money to their names, were used to secure up to $50m in loans from fund management company Trustees Executors Ltd (TEL). At least $33m of the loans, funded by the Tower insurance mortgage fund which TEL administered, have defaulted.
Mayer is being pursued by the Serious Fraud Office and has come clean publicly to save his family from further distress; he says his sister-in-law has already been “interrogated” by the SFO. “I don’t want them to compromise themselves in order to protect me; they are honourable people,” he said. “They just got caught up in my passion.”
Mayer says that tomorrow or on Tuesday he plans to visit the SFO, which was called in by TEL, and admit to everything. He describes his actions as “crimes of omission” and that he did not realise at the time that it was anything “significant”. He believes everything would have been fine, were it not for the world financial crisis. “No one envisaged an economic World War III.”
Mayer acknowledges that he will probably face criminal charges, but insists he is an honest man.
Mayer’s main goal is to sell his remaining properties and use any leftover funds to benefit the more than 5000 “mum and dad” investors who were left in limbo when TEL froze the $242m Tower Mortgage-Plus fund last year. “I never meant to hurt anybody,” he said.
For several years from 2000, Mayer says he was TEL’s “golden boy”. Its chairman is former prime minister Jim Bolger and it is New Zealand’s oldest trustee company, having acted as corporate trustee for a number of failed finance companies, as well as KiwiSaver schemes.
“They probably wouldn’t admit it now, but it was pretty clear I had a very warm and close relationship with them. I was their person in Auckland. If they wanted an opinion on properties, I would go out and give them an opinion for no consultation fee.” Mayer estimated he did about $20m worth of business with them, before “things turned pear-shaped”.
Mayer then began doing property deals involving architect-developer Simon Turnbull. The Star-Times revealed earlier this year how Turnbull used the names of his elderly parents and his wife’s family, including her penniless 73-year-old Portuguese mother, Maria de Magalhaes, to secure loans from TEL which subsequently defaulted. Mayer says he too was involved in the majority of those loans.
Mayer said multimillion-dollar loans were also given to three of Magalhaes’s grandchildren, one just 19 years old.
Most of those loans have defaulted and TEL has bankrupted several Magalhaes family members.
Turnbull, who lived the high life, including buying “his and hers” Aston Martin cars, has left the country.
“No one knows where he is,” Mayer said. “At one point he was trying to do business between Hong Kong and Siberia.”
Mayer secured another $14m-$18m in loans from TEL for his own “basket” of properties. TEL had a policy of lending no more than $4m to one entity, and because of that and for tax reasons, Mayer set up family members and employees, including his Filipino ex-wife’s two sisters and two Chinese immigrants, as trustees of properties of which he was the beneficial owner.
He then set up deals where properties would be sold to Turnbull entities, using TEL funds. TEL thought they were cash deals but what it did not know was that Mayer and Turnbull had made arrangements for delayed payments, which meant that, in effect, TEL was putting up most of the money.
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2838215/The-50m-swindler-I-confess
Likewise, Tony Wall was handed the above story on a plate, during a fully catered interview with Mayer, where the fraudster confessed to his extensive criminal offending.
Convicted shyster Malcolm Duncan Ingerman Mayer, four years into his six year prison stretch
Team LF know a great deal about this fraud, all the ins and outs, the dirty little twists and turns, the reprisals for having been caught red handed and the attempts to discredit those responsible for investigating the frauds and handing their complete file to the SFO
Of course there was also the issue of a greedy finance company, risking investor funds and the New Zealand government and the systemic failure of its law enforcement agencies to see what was in plain view, as obvious as the balls on a short haired dog – serial mortgage swindles.
This problem is not limited to Mayer and Turnbull. It’s widespread and continues to this day, property deals and large scale mortgage rorts that have and continue to place New Zealand’s banking and finance sector at great risk.
As such, the Turnbull/Mayer case is not at all dissimilar to the Matthew Blomfield swindle’s team LF have also reported on, in detail, over the past four years.
Last weeks hearing almost brings to an end almost a decade of investigation and unrelated spurious court actions, designed, again not unlike the Matthew Blomfield case, to facilitate the perpetrators escape from conviction, for what was in fact one of New Zealand’s largest property and mortgage swindle’s.
Malcolm Duncan Ingerman Mayer was of course sentenced to six years prison for years ago, we expect Turnbull will receive a similar sentence, although, Turnbull’s offending, despite his guilty plea, is arguably greatly aggravated by his absconding overseas.
Team LF always strive to get it right, we’re chalking this one up as another success in the name of JUSTICE.
Footnote:
We note that the slimy Kiwi political blogger Pete George thought it a good idea to report on this case on the 28th October.
Sadly, the delusional and often misguided Pete George has also been “reporting” on the Blomfield case, well not so much reporting, more running interference, assisting yet another swindler, as he and his cabal have also attempted to slip the noose.
Warren Arthur Wilson, yet another property fraudster, a professional swindler, who impersonated a liquidator in a plan designed to prevent Turnbull and Mayer going to prison
There is a lot of truth in the old saying, “history has a habit of repeating”. Pete George is in fact not at all dissimilar to a character Malcolm Mayer employed in his many nefarious attempts to avoid prison, his mate and bullshit liquidator Warren Arthur Wilson, another incompetent narcissistic swindler.
In fact Pete George exhibits many of Wilson’s less admirable traits as a fraudster, one of which was his feigning of intelligence
“All types of fraud should be taken seriously – as should successful convictions for financial/business crimes” – Pete George
George seems to think that wise words are appropriate, so we’d like to give Pete George a little advice, nee, more of a warning really.
If one isn’t prepared to put in the time and effort required to fully understand what’s transpired. If one doesn’t possess the acumen required to actually understand and fully comprehend the finer detail. Then it would obviously pay to shut the fuck up and just watch from the sidelines.
Halfwit Kiwi political blogger Peter Donald George, aka Pete, a resident of New Zealand’s deep South, a place where the inhabitants don’t get out much.
After all, Pete George’s kiwi political blogging mates, the likes of Lynn Prentice, lawyer Greg Presland, et al, have all taken a much needed step back; perhaps deciding to look at the FACTS instead of employing spurious gossip and political rhetoric, amusingly spin-doctored crap provided by the fraudsters themselves.
Slater too has gone, nowhere to be seen in fact. Blomfield, well, as predicted, he’s failed to complete the spurious defamation proceeding he started against Slater back in 2012.
If Pete George, in another of his petulant displays of churlish arrogance, doesn’t heed this advice, then on his own head be it!
Mr George, without doubt, runs the very real risk of his readers finding out just how much of a complete and utter fuckwit he really is.
As for Malcolm Mayer’s second accomplice, Warren Arthur Wilson, team LF are still quietly investigating and are confident of eventually running him to ground!
Reference/Bibliography
http://laudafinem.org/2012/08/02/mayer-mortgage-fraud-judge-not-up-to-it-trial-aborted/
http://laudafinem.org/tag/malcolm-duncan-mayer/
https://www.sfo.govt.nz/n437,25.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/68975267/jailed-property-developer-malcolm-mayer-loses-appeal
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/82827102/Alleged-fraudster-Simon-Turnbull-appears-in-court
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2838215/The-50m-swindler-I-confess
https://yournz.org/2016/10/28/mortgage-fraudster-pleads-guilty/
http://business.scoop.co.nz/2016/10/27/fugitive-simon-turnbull-pleads-guilty-to-mortgage-fraud/
Fraudsters connected to Turnbull/Mayer
warrenarthurwilson | warren arthur wilson random thoughts and …
Warren Arthur Wilson (WarrenArthurWil) on Twitter
warren arthur wilson | skyandflower
Warren Arthur Wilson
[1] WILSON V AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL HC AK CRI 2006-404-000126 5 April 2007
[2] WILSON V AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL AND ANOR HC AK CIV 2004-404-003303 5 April 2007
[3] WILSON V AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL AND ANOR HC AK CIV 2004-404-003303 10 May 2007
[4] WILSON V AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL HC AK CRI 2006-404-000126 24 May 2007
[5] WILSON V AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL CA CA277/07 23 October 2007
[6] WILSON V AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL AND ANOR HC AK CIV 2009-404-1292 28 September 2009
[7] WILSON V AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL AND ANOR HC AK CIV 2009-404-1292 16 November 2009
[8] WILSON V ANZ NATIONAL BANK LTD HC AK CIV-2010-404-5025 23 March 2012
[9] Conviction for illegal building work – Auckland City
[10] Conviction for illegal building work | Scoop News
[11] Shark Patrol; Bankrupcy notifications 18 May 2012
[12] Case Number: 2148 WARREN WILSON AGAINST NATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW
Malcolm Duncan Mayer
[1] BANK OF NEW ZEALAND V MAYER AND ANOR HC AK CIV-2009-404-7828 3 December 2009
[2] MALCOLM DUNCAN MAYER V TRUSTEES EXECUTORS LIMITED HC AK CIV 2010-404-000902 26 April 2010
[3] WESTPAC NEW ZEALAND LIMITED V SAGECORP LIMITED AND ANOR HC AK CIV 2010-404-001171 3 August 2010
[4] RICE CRAIG SOLICITORS NOMINEE CO LTD V M D MAYER AND ANOR HC AK CIV-2010-404-004099 10 August 2010
[5] TRUSTEES EXECUTORS LTD V EDEN HOLDINGS (2010) LTD HC WANG CIV-2010-483-000101 12 August 2010
[6] MALCOLM DUNCAN MAYER V SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE CA695/2010 12 November 2010
[7] TRUSTEES EXECUTORS LIMITED V EDEN HOLDINGS 2010 LIMITED CA CA526/2010 20 December 2010
[8] MALCOLM DUNCAN MAYER V R COA CA829/2010 25 February 2011
Brent Clode
[1] RAISER DEVELOPMENTS LTD V TREFOIL PROPERTIES LTD & ANOR HC AK CIV 2005-404-5883 16 November 2006
[3] JIREH CUSTOMS LTD V GRAFTON ROAD BUILDING LTD AND ORS HC AK CIV 2007-404-007586 18 December 2007
[4] JIREH CUSTOMS LIMITED V CLODE HC AK CIV2007-404-3106 28 October 2008
[5] FERN LIMITED V FINANCIAL TRUST LIMITED AND ANOR HC AK CIV-2009-404-4055 23 September 2009
[7] FERN LIMITED V FINANCIAL TRUST LIMITED AND ANOR HC AK CIV-2009-404-4055 7 May 2010
[8] TRUSTEES EXECUTORS LIMITED V EDEN HOLDINGS 2010 LIMITED CA CA526/2010 20 December 2010
[9] FINANCIAL TRUST LIMITED V WANGANELLA TRUSTEE LIMITED HC AK CIV-2010-404-3928 1 August 2011
William (Bill) Alexander Ritchie
[2] W.A.RITCHIE V BANK OF NEW ZEALAND HC HAM CIV-2010-419-687 15 March 2011
[3] BANGERTER, AND ANOR V RETAIL ON MAIN LIMITED HC AK CIV2005-404-4403 12 September 2005
Lance Gilbertson
[2] JIREH CUSTOMS LTD V GRAFTON ROAD BUILDING LTD AND ORS HC AK CIV 2007-404-007586 18 December 2007
[3] TRUSTEES EXECUTORS LTD V EDEN HOLDINGS (2010) LTD HC WANG CIV-2010-483-000101 12 August 2010
[4] TRUSTEES EXECUTORS LIMITED V EDEN HOLDINGS 2010 LIMITED CA CA526/2010 20 December 2010
[5] FINANCIAL TRUST LIMITED V WANGANELLA TRUSTEE LIMITED HC AK CIV-2010-404-3928 1 August 2011
Champion Apartments
[1] TRUSTEES EXECUTORS LTD V EDEN HOLDINGS (2010) LTD HC WANG CIV-2010-483-000101 12 August 2010
[2] TRUSTEES EXECUTORS LIMITED V EDEN HOLDINGS 2010 LIMITED CA CA526/2010 20 December 2010
[3] WOODROFFE V COLEMAN AND COLEMAN HC AK CIV-2011-404-4391 11 November 2011
Further Reading:
http://www.sfo.govt.nz/case/malcolm-duncan-mayer-1735
Fraud accused ‘tried to be invisible’
Witness in Malcom Mayer trial accused of bias
$130,000 cash deposit ‘unusual’
Developer faces $50m fraud trial
Property developer accused of $50 million fraud
http://storify.com/SolvencyMatters/malcolm-duncan-mayer
6 Comments
So LF Greg Sherriff is no longer at Grant Thornton I’m hearing, and on Stuff this morning Aaron Drever has had his real estate license taken off him. Looks like your stories are on the mark.
DigiTech
More white collar crime.
They all justify their criminal offending, and will never be forced to repay their fraud.
Unlike beneficiaries who defraud the system, these white collar criminals are laughing.
Their is a report from the University of Wellington’s law department about this fact.
Look at the criminal defrauding of the Halberg trust, run by NZs elite,
it get millions in donations to help marginalized children into sporting activities,
yet, it has been reported in the Herald that
it only gives out 8%., 8 fkn % its Charles Dickenisn Charity for orphans.
Its CEO claims they have to pay staff well, and no doubt her self.
Do you want me to provide a link to the story or did you see it.
HI guys, regularly get your posts emailed. I Think this must put to bed, the likes of Pete George and his cronies….. another successful prosecution and all down to Mr N and his associates. You didn’t mention his name specifically, probably better given the conduct of the filth here in NZ
Now i see why leaving NZ was the best plan i had. Pete George really is another idiot who has been conned by Matt B. From here for Matt its all down hill, and those he used along the way will have suffer the consequences – i can see a few additional law suits happening here as i know a few of the players will move to clean this up once and for all. Money will never be of interest to one particular person, just his right to say “i fucking told you so” – Matt B is all about money, but that caught him once before, and will do him in again. Matt B attacked many, but he has picked a fight he can’t win.