Rotorua lawyer convicted on SFO fraud charges
Mr Rangitauira was convicted of four charges brought by the SFO under the Crimes Act at the Rotorua District Court last night.
A jury has found Rotorua lawyer John David Rangitauira (59) guilty of obtaining by deception bank loans and funds from a Trust under his control.
Mr Rangitauira was last night convicted of four Crimes Act charges brought by the SFO at the Rotorua District Court.
He was found to have dishonestly obtained funds totalling over $840,000 from Westpac bank and the Te Houoterangi Trust, of which he was a trustee, chairman and solicitor.
The loans from Westpac were purported to be for “overseas property transactions”. The money was actually directed to overseas parties involved in an advanced fee fraud, a fact not known to Mr Rangitauira when he sent the funds.
The advance fee fraud was based on the premise that there was a $US22.3 million inheritance being held in the Central Bank in Burkina Faso, but that in order to release the money, certain payments were required to be made to the overseas parties. Mr Rangitauira became involved in the scheme when a client approached him asking for assistance in releasing the money.
In return for Mr Rangitauira’s assistance the client agreed to give him a portion of the inheritance, ultimately being an amount of $US5.3 million. As is typical of advance fee frauds, there was no inheritance and all of the money sent overseas was lost.
The SFO opened its investigation into Mr Rangitauira in February 2009 and laid charges in September last year. He is due to appear in the Auckland District Court on December 16 for sentencing.
NBR staff
Fri, 04 Nov 2011
Fri, 04 Nov 2011
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Rotorua lawyer convicted on SFO fraud charges
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