Euro Corporation Limited (Euro) has been fined $361,000 for making false or misleading and unsubstantiated representations relating to its earthquake grade steel mesh products, known as SE615.

Auckland District Court Judge M-E Sharp sentenced Euro on 14 charges brought by the Commerce Commission under the Fair Trading Act. Euro pleaded guilty to making false or misleading and unsubstantiated representations for its SE615 steel mesh products which it marketed and sold as being earthquake grade steel mesh (known in the industry as 500E grade) between January 2012 and August 2015.

Read the full article here.

Kelly Simon Tonkin (52) appeared in the Christchurch District Court today and pleaded guilty to charges of 'False accounting', 'False statements by promoter' and 'Forgery'. 

The charges related to his management of the Penrich Global Macro Fund which was a Cayman Islands registered company set up in September 2004. The Fund invested in a range of financial instruments including fixed income securities and currency instruments. Significant losses were concealed by Mr Tonkin who continued to solicit investments in the Fund. It was placed into voluntary liquidation by its shareholders in April 2020.

Read the full article here.

CERT NZ words to support businesses, organisations and individuals affected by cyber security fraud and it's revealed a 25 percent year-on-year increase in incidents to 1,431 from 1 January to 31 March.

Almost a quarter of those reports resulted in direct financial losses, with phishing and credential harvesting remaining the most reported incidents, followed by scams and fraud.

You can read the full Newshub article here. 

The defendants are entitled to seek name suppression therefore the SFO will not be naming any defendants until any name suppression issues have been resolved.

See here for more information.

With money laundering prosecutions on the rise and about $1.35billion laundered through businesses annually as a result of fraud, illegal drugs, tax evasion and other crimes, is New Zealand enforcement doing enough?

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, setting standards for more than 200 countries and jurisdictions to help authorities combat serious crime including drug smuggling, human trafficking and terrorism.

FATF reports identify what countries are doing right - and where they need to improve - in relation to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing frameworks.

The watchdog released its 2020 report in to New Zealand on Thursday, finding it had achieved notable results tackling money laundering, however there is room for improvement.

Read the full article here.

A Gisborne farmer who submitted false invoices for more than $133 million over four years has been convicted in New Zealand’s largest tax fraud case.

John Richard Bracken, 54, ran the scam through his company Bracken Enterprises Ltd, which led to him receiving $17.4 million in GST refunds that he was not entitled to.

Read the full article here.

CERT NZ’s latest report, released today, shows a 65% increase in reports of cyber security incidents over the past year, with an associated $16.9 million in direct financial losses.

Read the full article here.

Interpol, on Tuesday 9 February 2021, issued a global alert for a New Zealand banker wanted by Germany in connection with a massive tax fraud scheme.

The agency based in Lyon, France, posted a 'red notice' on its website seeking information on the whereabouts of 53-year-old Paul Robert Mora, who is suspected of facilitating and concealing fraudulent transactions worth more than 113 million euros ($190 million).

Read the entire NZ Herald article here. 

A Tauranga man thought he had turned $3000 into $31,000 in just weeks through cryptocurrency, but he now knows he’ll never see a cent of it.

Bruce Harding believes he has fallen foul of a pushy cryptocurrency scam that took him for thousands of dollars but could have cost him more had he not stopped.

CERT NZ, warns scams involving cryptocurrency or fake traders are becoming more and more common in New Zealand.

Harding is sharing his misadventure in the hopes others do not fall into the same trap. Read the full article here.

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has welcomed two court decisions that will see victims of convicted fraudsters Steven Robertson and Rodney McCall receive a portion of their money back. Mr McCall has also been sentenced to 12 months’ home detention for his crimes.

See the full media release here