Another defendant named in SFO mortgage and investment fraud case

Another defendant in the Serious Fraud Office’s prosecution of a complex multi-million dollar mortgage and investment fraud case can now be named.

Wednesday, August 7th 2024, 3:04PM

Christopher Peters has been charged with 23 counts of obtaining credit of $7.3 million by deception (14 as principal offender). He has also been charged with six counts of attempting to obtain a further $2.9 million by deception (all as principal offender), and four counts of obtaining property by deception (two as principal).

In March 2024, the District Court at North Shore declined to grant name suppression to Christopher Peters, and in May 2024, the High Court at Auckland dismissed an appeal of that decision.

SFO Director Karen Chang says, “This latest development is another important step in our ongoing work to successfully prosecute this complicated mortgage and investment fraud case.

“When tackling serious offending on this scale we believe it is in the public interest to ensure the principle of open justice is applied and case details are made available.”

A total of 37 charges have been filed in relation to an alleged mortgage fraud scheme, against Christopher Peters, Robert Peters and two other people who have name suppression, for obtaining credit or property by deception and attempting to obtain credit by deception.

One of the unnamed defendants has pleaded guilty to four charges having admitted to providing misleading information to their bank as part of a 2018 loan application and is due to be sentenced in August 2024.

Charges for an alleged investment fraud have also been filed against Christopher Peters, Robert Peters, Gerard Peters and Serene Peters for obtaining $1.8 million by deception. Christopher and Robert Peters have also been charged with obtaining those funds by forgery as an alternative charge.

The SFO began its investigation in October 2020 following a referral from Police. Through their guilty pleas, the defendant has admitted providing misleading information to their bank as part of a 2018 loan application, including:

Tags: serious fraud office