High-profile former Auckland real estate agent and businessman Aaron Drever has been sentenced for deception again.
Drever was sentenced to serve eight months in prison under the Insolvency Act 2006 for offending while on bail and misleading the Official Assignee on several occasions and concealing income and property when he appeared in the Auckland District Court on October 6.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) says Drever concealed income and property that could have been used to pay creditors.
He has previous convictions for dishonesty offending between 2016 and 2019, and convictions for insolvency offending in 2021 and 2022.
MBIE says Drever’s new offences were aggravated as they occurred whilst he was on bail for other Insolvency Act offences and were also in breach of his parole conditions.
After being bankrupted in June, 2019, Drever continued to set up businesses, controlling and managing them without obtaining approval from the Official Assignee.
An adjudicated bankrupt is forbidden under the Insolvency Act 2006 from managing or controlling businesses because it presumes that bankrupts are more likely to financially mismanage.
MBIE says the sentence imposed on Drever signals the seriousness of his actions in wilfully misleading the Official Assignee in respect of his financial situation, as well as disregarding the obligations imposed on adjudicated bankrupts.
Business Registries Investigations and Compliance team manager Vanessa Cook says: “He even expressed an intention to undertake a training course when contacted by his Insolvency Case Officer that he did not plan to be employed or self-employed.
“However, this proved to not be the case.”
In August, 2022, after being prosecuted by police, Drever was sentenced to two years and two months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $75,000 in reparation after being convicted of a raft of dishonesty offences, including obtaining by deception, making a false document, and dishonestly using a document.
The offending occurred between 2016 and 2019, meaning some of it took place after Drever had been adjudicated bankrupt.
His actions resulted in significant financial harm to those impacted by his offending, MBIE says.
In June, 2022, Drever was charged by MBIE with offences against the Insolvency Act for offending that occurred prior to his sentence of imprisonment for the police-laid charges.
He pleaded guilty to charges of managing a business whilst bankrupt, incurring credit and failing to file a statement of affairs and was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment.
Following his release on parole, and while still awaiting sentencing on the MBIE charges, Drever commenced employment with Free Range Chef Ltd in November, 2023.
Over a period of time he received income of $48,114.94 into his bank account, but did not disclose the fact of his employment or receipt of this income to the Official Assignee, using it for personal expenditure.
