Man Arrested In FBI Bust Has Thousands In Assets Restrained
The man appeared in the Auckland District Court on Friday for his alleged involvement in an organised criminal group that stole cryptocurrency from seven victims valued at US$265M (NZD$450M).
The Wellington High Court has now issued restraining orders under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 for assets valued at $670,000 including cash held in bank accounts, cash held in a lawyer's trust account for the purchase of a property, cryptocurrency, and high value goods.
We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners in the United States to recover assets alleged to have been stolen by the organised criminal group. An interim name suppression order remains in place.
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NZ Herald
13 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Auckland teacher who abused, photographed girls, had prior indecent act convictions
But the Thursday afternoon sentencing at Manukau District Court wasn't the first time Fisher had been before the courts for committing indecencies. A court document obtained by the Herald reveals that in 2002 he was convicted of three counts of committing an indecent act. Despite these convictions, it appears he was able to pass background checks and gain employment at various schools and teaching providers. It is unclear if his convictions were subject to the Clean Slate scheme. EduExperts, the Crimson-'powered', after-school tutoring brand that Fisher worked under, said it was shocked by the revelations and undertaking an urgent investigation. In a statement provided by a public relations representative, the company said Fisher was a contracted teacher at an independently-owned franchisee with a licence to operate under the EduExperts brand. 'Our understanding is that the contracted teacher had been working at [the independent franchisee] since 2019 and his contract was terminated once police commenced an investigation into his conduct. Timothy Fisher pleaded guilty to 14 charges and was sent to prison after sentencing this week in Manukau District Court. Photo / Sylvie Whinray 'As a nationwide and trusted education provider, EduExperts is disappointed by this case and expresses its sympathy to those impacted by the contracted teacher's conduct. The safety and wellbeing of students is our top priority.' The statement said Fisher held a current practising certificate and the independent franchisee had received a positive reference letter from a school where he formerly worked. Franchisees were required to follow strict recruitment processes, including only hiring registered teachers with current practising certificates from the Teaching Council. Any teacher applying for or renewing their practising certificate was required to undergo a police vet, the statement said. 'EduExperts is conducting its own investigation into this case and working with [the franchisee] to review this in detail. Any further questions relating to the case should be directed to police.' 'You see the face but not the heart' The independent franchise owner, who the Herald cannot name for legal reasons, said she was devastated to learn of Fisher's offending and her heart went out to the victims. She said she bought the franchise in 2019. The previous owners told her Fisher held a current teaching licence, provided the school reference letter and 'said they did all the checks'. She was stunned to learn yesterday that Fisher had previous convictions and that some of the offending had happened at the company's premises. 'We feel shock and sorrow. We trust our teachers ... and try our best to keep an eye on everybody.' She said her company had security cameras and had passed all the footage to police. It had co-operated fully since learning Fisher was under investigation last year and immediately dismissed him as a teacher when alerted. She said Fisher was a 'very good' teacher. Learning he was a child sex offender was difficult to comprehend. 'You see the face but not the heart.' Sexual predator 'knows he does have a problem' At the Thursday hearing, Judge Sacha Nepe sentenced Fisher to four years and five months' imprisonment on 14 charges, which included committing indecent acts on children and making objectionable material. She gave him a 25% discount for his guilty plea, 10% for childhood issues raised in his psychiatric report and 5% for the counselling he had undertaken. Judge Sacha Nepe (right) being sworn in as a new judge by Gisborne Judge Hemi Taumanu in May this year. His lawyer, Tim Blackwell, said Fisher 'knows he does have a problem'. Blackwell sought a discount for remorse and told the court some of his client's comments to report writers had been taken out of context. Prosecutor Kristy Li said Fisher told a report writer he did not feel remorseful because he felt the victims were not 'traumatised' by his offending. Judge Nepe sided with Li: 'I am not prepared, Mr Fisher, to give a discount for remorse. I have looked at the material before me… In my view there was an almost justification for the behaviour.' She uplifted his sentence by two months for his prior offending. A place on the sex offender register was automatic. Details of abuse laid out in court A summary of facts says Fisher taught English at two of the franchisee's branches. The youngest victim was 9 and the oldest 14. Almost all of the indecent offending listed on the document occurred at one campus, with the physical offending occurring in February 2024. Fisher indecently abused the young girls in various ways, including touching their buttocks, lower backs, chest, thigh and groin area over clothing. Timothy Fisher was sentenced to four years and five months' imprisonment after pleading guilty to 14 charges. Photo / Sylvie Whinray He tried to photograph one child's groin area and legs from under her desk while she did schoolwork in an undisclosed location. Eight of the nine victims were offended against physically. Judge Nepe said some of the videos Fisher created were made at an unnamed high school he had worked at. On one occasion, Fisher filmed himself masturbating in an undisclosed location next to two female students who were blindfolded and not aware of his actions. Other footage he captured showed unknown prepubescent girls swimming in a public pool while he pleasured himself from inside a sauna. Another video depicted him recording himself masturbating in a classroom at the high school while nearby students were unaware. In a different clip, he filmed himself masturbating with a child on his lap. He also was found in possession of objectionable material, including of adults abusing children. When spoken to by police, he denied indecently assaulting the students but stated he had 'crossed a line' with the girls and 'got too comfortable'. For his most recent offending, Fisher was charged with seven representative counts of committing an indecent act on a child. Each carries a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment. A representative charge means the offending occurred more than once. Police also laid four attempted intimate visual recording charges and one representative indecent act on a young person charge. In addition, Fisher faced a representative charge for possessing objectionable publications and another representative charge for making an objectionable publication. The maximum term for these charges is 10 and 14 years' imprisonment respectively. Detective Senior Sergeant Martin Bienvenu, Counties Manukau CIB, acknowledged the courage of the young people who came forward to report the offending. Asked if Fisher had been subject to the Clean Slate scheme, Bienvenu said he couldn't comment and referred queries to the Ministry of Justice. A Justice Ministry spokeswoman said convictions were automatically concealed under the scheme if the person was eligible. However, the scheme did not extend to people applying for certain jobs or roles. She said the Children's Act required safety checks for people working with children and the Clean Slate Act did not apply to those safety checks. Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers issues such as sexual assault, workplace misconduct, media, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020. Lane Nichols is Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years' experience in the industry. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Family pay tribute to Bay of Plenty stabbing victim
Police at the scene at Awakeri Hot Springs on Thursday. Photo: Pūkāea A cousin of a woman fatally stabbed in the Bay of Plenty on Thursday says she was a loving mother, daughter, niece, cousin, aunty and friend. Emergency services were called to Awakeri Hot Springs Holiday Park around 4.30pm on Thursday after reports of a serious assault. Despite medical attention, an injured woman died at the scene and a 25-year-old woman was charged with murder. "You were a strong hardworking lady that done everything to provide the best for your babies. You stood staunch for your family would do anything to make sure we were all good. One of the loyalest (sic) family members i ever knew. Rest in eternal love now my cuzin your with your dad, sister and all our loved ones. Forever in our hearts," said the victim's cousin in a statement provided to RNZ. Police remained at the holiday park this morning, and the hot pools part of the facility is closed. Campers remain in the campsite. The executive producer of iwi news provider Pūkāea, Kereama Wright, said local kaumātua led a karakia at the holiday park this morning. He spoke to relations of the Māori landowners who said they were very upset by yesterday's events. "For a long time Awakeri hot pools has been a place for whānau to gather for celebrations, for whānau gatherings, for a little bit of reprieve, so to hear this sort of news happening at such a popular site within the region is sad and speaking to some of the people who are camping there, they are definitely shocked and quite disturbed by what happened," he said. Wright had interviewed campers this morning and said he understood both the victim and the accused had been staying at the campground recently. "We spoke to a couple of the campers who were present when the incident occurred yesterday and they were visibly shaken and still very upset at what they saw and what they experienced," he said. The 25-year-old accused appeared in Whakatane District Court this morning charged with murder and was remanded in custody to reappear in early September.
1News
a day ago
- 1News
Michigan autoworker's lost wallet is found in Minnesota car— 11 years later
A retired Michigan autoworker looked at a Facebook message after midnight from a stranger: Did you lose your wallet years ago? 'If so,' a Minnesota man wrote, 'it was in the engine bay of a car.' Richard Guilford couldn't believe what he was reading on his phone — a decade-old mystery was remarkably solved. Guilford's tri-fold leather wallet — stuffed with US$15 (NZ$25), a driver's license, work ID, gift cards worth US$275 (NZ$463) and lottery tickets — had turned up under the hood of a car in a repair shop in Lake Crystal, Minnesota. The old wallet of Richard Guilford. (Source: Associated Press) ADVERTISEMENT A Christmas gift from Guilford's sons was suddenly a family treasure again. 'Big Red,' as he was affectionately known at Ford Motor, was in awe. 'It restores your faith in humanity that people will say, 'Hey, you lost this, I found this, I'm going to get it back to you'," Guilford said Thursday. The wallet was discovered in June by mechanic Chad Volk, sandwiched between the transmission and the air filter box of a 2015 Ford Edge with 243,010 km on it. 'Crazy,' Volk said. The filter box wouldn't snap in place after a repair, he said, 'so I messed around a little bit and then pulled it back out and the wallet was sitting on a little ledge where it needed to snap down. I pulled the wallet out and that's what it was.' Turn back the calendar to 2014, around Christmas. Guilford was working on the same car at a Ford factory in Wayne, Michigan. It was in a long line of new vehicles assembled elsewhere that needed extra electrical work before being shipped to dealers. Guilford realised later that his wallet had fallen out of his shirt pocket. He was certain he had lost it in a car, but figured it was on the floor of a Ford Flex, not an Edge, and certainly not in the engine. ADVERTISEMENT Guilford said he searched 30 to 40 cars, and his co-workers looked at dozens more, 'just opening the doors up, looking under the seats, looking behind it.' 'I can't take too much time to look for this because I gotta work. I'm on the clock," he recalled feeling. "No luck. Life went on.' Richard Guilford in front of items found in his lost wallet. (Source: Associated Press) Guilford, now 56 and living in Petersburg, Michigan, retired from Ford in 2024 after nearly 35 years. He had put the wallet out of his mind long ago, until getting the message in Facebook, where his profile said he had worked at Ford. Volk messaged a photo of the wallet and included the driver's license. 'Big Red' saw a younger version of himself with his red-tinged beard. Richard Guilford holds up a chat message he received from Chad Volk. (Source: Associated Press) 'The amazing part to me was it was so protected,' Guilford said of the wallet as he also traced the car's history. 'Think about this: 11 years, rain, snow. It was in Minnesota, for crying out loud. It was in Arizona when it was bought. Think about how hot a transmission gets in Arizona driving down the road. That's incredible.' ADVERTISEMENT Cabela's, an outdoor retailer, said the US$250 (NZ$422) in gift cards remain valid, but it has offered to give him new cards anyway. Guilford doesn't know the status of a US$25 (NZ$42) card from Outback Steakhouse. The numbers on the lottery tickets faded long ago. Richard Guilford holds up a lottery ticket he purchased 11 years ago. (Source: Associated Press) 'I'm going to put everything back in it and leave it just like it is, and it's gonna sit at the house in the china cabinet and that's for my kids,' said Guilford, a part-time auctioneer. 'They can tell my great-grandkids about it. We're big into stories. I like tellin' stories. That's just who I am.'
