Fraudster jailed for swindling Bolger-chaired mortgage fund
The bankrupt property developer committed fraud on a company chaired by Jim Bolger
The bankrupt property developer committed fraud on a company chaired by Jim Bolger
Bankrupt property developer Malcolm Mayer has been sentenced in the Auckland District Court to six years' imprisonment for $47 million in mortgage fraud.
The 57-year-old was found guilty last year of 16 charges of dishonesty using a document and 10 charges of using forged documents.
Mayer had used false loan applications and submitted them to fund management company Trustees Executors Ltd (TEL) for 26 properties in and around the Auckland region.
TEL owns and administrates $242 million of Tower Mortgage-Plus funds and is chaired by former primer minister Jim Bolger.
Mayer had used a variety of means to trick TEL – dishonesty using relatives and associates' names to secure the loan funds.
According to the Serious Fraud Office – which undertook the prosecution – Mayer omitted important information from loan applications giving the impression the loan applicants were contributing significant funds to the purchase, when in reality they were contributing nothing.
In 2010, Mayer confessed to the media he helped arrange the $50 million loan scam. While facing investigation by the SFO, he claimed he was "coming clean" to save his family from further distress.