A defendant charged in relation to an $8.6 million mortgage fraud scheme has pleaded guilty to four charges of obtaining by deception.

The defendant, one of six people charged in a complex mortgage and investment fraud case, has name suppression. They were charged alongside Gerard and Robert Peters.

The defendant’s sentencing was scheduled for August 14, 2024.

The guilty pleas meant the defendant had admitted to providing misleading information to their bank as part of a loan application in 2018.

The misleading information included the true purchase price of the property, payment of the deposit for the property made through a cash gift certificate and failure to disclose an existing bank loan.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said the pleas “mark[ed] a pivotal step in the investigation”.

The SFO’s investigation began in October 2020 after a referral from police.

The SFO alleged the defendants made false claims on home loan applications and to conveyancing solicitors to obtain credit and properties. The SFO accused them of using falsified documents.

The SFO accused the sextet of obtaining more than $8.6m. The SFO alleged they tried getting a further $3m.

Gerard Peters (inset), one of the men charged in relation to the mortgage fraud scheme, had several cars repossessed by creditors.

Forty-one charges were filed against the group. Charges included obtaining by deception, attempting to obtain by deception and forgery.

SFO director Karen Chang said mortgage fraud schemes like this “can have a devastating impact on the lives of ordinary New Zealanders who want to invest, as well as corrode trust in our financial institutions”.

Chang said: “The SFO aims to create a “ripple effect” through its cases by deterring offenders and lifting public awareness of serious and complex offending.”

The Herald on Sunday has previously reported on schemes allegedly run by the Peters family that cost investors millions and seen around a dozen Auckland properties moved into exotic ownership structures and saddled with large mortgages.

Sandra Rosolowski, 75, alleged her house in Browns Bay was stolen in a scam: she paid cash for it, but found out a year or so after moving in that her name wasn't on the title and there was a $1 million mortgage registered over it. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

The Herald on Sunday revealed 75-year-old pensioner Sandra Rosolowski was the one to raise the alarm after realising the Browns Bay flat she had paid for and thought was mortgage-free, actually had someone else’s name on the title and was saddled with a $1.1m mortgage to BNZ.

After she discovered the discrepancy in mid-2018 she complained to the bank which referred the matter to the police.

Police detective sergeant James Bolton took the case and the list of alleged victims widened over the next 18 months.

“It just grew from there as more people came forward. It’s big money, then you’ve got independent money with Gerard Peters that’s supposed to have taken to invest - somewhere in Singapore or wherever,” Bolton said.

This article was originally published on the NZ Herald here.