Sentence sends message to keep housing market honest

A man who returned to New Zealand to plead guilty to fraud charges last month has been sentenced in the Auckland District Court today.

Simon Lawrence Wood Turnbull faced 16 charges of ‘Obtaining by deception or causing loss by deception’ and has received a sentence of three years and two months’ imprisonment.

For a period between September 2006 and August 2007, Mr Turnbull was involved in a $33 million dollar mortgage fraud where false loan applications were submitted to a fund management company to purchase 16 properties in and around the Auckland region.

The charges were initially laid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in October 2014, however, Mr Turnbull had left New Zealand in March 2008. After failing to appear at his first court date and after spending some time living overseas, Mr Turnbull returned to New Zealand in June this year and was detained upon his arrival.

SFO Director, Julie Read said, “SFO prosecutions against those who commit mortgage fraud help to ensure an honest market where New Zealanders can safely invest at a fair rate.”

In February 2014 another defendant, Malcolm Mayer, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for his role in the fraud.

ENDS

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