Posted by The Wire on
A personable conwoman dubbed "the queen of greed" has been convicted of duping people out of more than $2 million - then losing the money to a classic Nigerian scam.
A personable conwoman dubbed "the queen of greed" has been convicted of duping people out of more than $2 million - then losing the money to a classic Nigerian scam.
In the Auckland District Court on Tuesday, Patricia Lenine Mabel Walsh, 65, of Howick was found guilty on 47 counts relating to the Nigerian fraud and a further three fraud charges relating to the purchase of a $1.8 million home in Whitford in 1998.
Walsh's cousin, 78-year-old Elva Mary Medhurst, also of Howick who faced two charges of misappropriation, died part way through the trial.
Walsh was remanded in custody for sentencing next month.
A reparation report was ordered, but Walsh's lawyer, Jeremy Bioletti, said that she was an undischarged bankrupt and there was no prospect of people getting any money back.
The jury heard that the 10 people who lost just over $2 million also lost considerable amounts in a failed upmarket development complex initiated by Walsh.
Walsh, like the other investors, were conned out of their money by an American fraudster, Greg Dutcher, who offered to provide finance-but the catch was that they had to pay fees and expenses up front.
When Walsh came to the investors with a rescue package, they jumped at the chance to recover their investments.
But it turned out to be throwing good money after bad.
One man, a former senior lawyer in a well-known Auckland legal firm, lost $400,000 on the apartment project and a further $1.2 million trying to recoup his losses.
A 90-year-old woman lost $337,000 in the Nigerian scam.
The Serious Fraud Office lawyer, David Jones, said that Walsh deliberately concealed any Nigerian connection when discussing the rescue package with the hapless investors.
She told them that a Middle East benefactor was setting up a trust to assist distressed people who had fallen on hard times through no fault of their own.
She was the trust's New Zealand representative and the funds would be under her control to dispense to people who fitted the criteria, including those who lost money in the apartment failure, but everything had to remain confidential.
But like the Dutcher fraud, the investors were told that before the rescue money could be transferred to New Zealand, they had to pay set-up costs for the fund, taxes, bank fees and legal costs.
The Crown said that Walsh, who was expecting $US28 million ($NZ40.09 million), was telling the victims what the Nigerians were telling her.
But when asked she emphatically denied any Nigerian connection.
Inevitably, the expected $US28 million never arrived.
The Crown said that on a trip to Amsterdam, Walsh was shown boxes by the Nigerians which were purported to contain $US28 million.
According to the SFO, Walsh manufactured a large number of letters from banks, law firms and other institutions to confirm that the money would soon be arriving in New Zealand.
Mr Jones told the jury that Walsh was the queen of greed, "a serial liar and a serial forger".
Even when on bail after her arrest last year, Walsh still appeared to believe that the money would arrive.
Her bail was revoked when she approached a prospective investor and it was discovered that more money was sent to Nigeria.
Mr Bioletti, who appeared with Mark Edgar, said that Walsh was deceived by Nigerian fraudsters into thinking that the scheme she was requesting money for was for was something other than a Nigerian scheme.
They conned her into thinking that what she was dealing with was a charitable trust.