Media Release

26 September 2017

Lawyer sentenced for fraud

Lawyer, Timothy Upton Slack has been sentenced in the Auckland High Court today for his role in a fraud relating to an Auckland development project.

He was sentenced to 10 months of home detention.

Mr Slack pleaded guilty earlier this month to one Crimes Act charge of ‘Obtaining by deception’.

The charge was in relation to a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) prosecution where a group are alleged to have made false statements in order to obtain a credit facility from the ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited to allow a company, Emily Projects Limited, to develop the Waldorf Celestion Apartment Hotel in Auckland.

It is alleged that a loan facility of approximately $40 million was obtained by deception.

Mr Slack was one of four men charged in relation to the matter. The remaining defendants, property developer Leonard John Ross, company director Michael James Wehipeihana and self-employed consultant Vaughn Stephen Foster will face trial on 5 June 2018.

ENDS

Note to editors
Background information

Please note that while name suppression in relation to Mr Slack was lifted on 1 September 2017,further non-publication orders relating to third parties remain in place and any queries about these orders and their effect should be directed to the Auckland High Court.

Crimes Act offences

Section 240 Obtaining by deception or causing loss by deception

(1) Every one is guilty of obtaining by deception or causing loss by deception who, by any deception and without claim of right,—

(a) obtains ownership or possession of, or control over, any property, or any privilege, service, pecuniary advantage, benefit, or valuable consideration, directly or indirectly; or

(b) in incurring any debt or liability, obtains credit; or

(c) induces or causes any other person to deliver over, execute, make, accept, endorse, destroy, or alter any document or thing capable of being used to derive a pecuniary advantage; or

(d) causes loss to any other person.

(1A) Every person is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years who, without reasonable excuse, sells, transfers, or otherwise makes available any document or thing capable of being used to derive a pecuniary advantage knowing that, by deception and without claim of right, the document or thing was, or was caused to be, delivered, executed, made, accepted, endorsed, or altered.

(2) In this section, deception means—

(a) a false representation, whether oral, documentary, or by conduct, where the person making the representation intends to deceive any other person and—

(i) knows that it is false in a material particular; or

(ii) is reckless as to whether it is false in a material particular; or

(b) an omission to disclose a material particular, with intent to deceive any person, in circumstances where there is a duty to disclose it; or

(c) a fraudulent device, trick, or stratagem used with intent to deceive any person.

© Scoop Media