Aaron Coupe, serial con artist: Victims wonder if the ‘Glib Huckster’ can ever change

Heather McGuire (inset) is one of those who spoke out about Aaron Coupe's offending. Photo / John Weekes

Nothing was as it seemed when a man calling himself Aaron McGregor approached a Tuakau family.

And nothing turned out the way it should have for those who entrusted their hopes and dreams to him.

McGregor was in fact Aaron Coupe, a serial crook who since 2013 has engaged in property and insolvency offending.

“He was using his alias, so we knew him as Aaron McGregor,” Ian McMillan told the Herald after Coupe was handed more jail time at the Auckland District Court today.

“And when we searched Aaron McGregor, he was a very clean-cut person.”

McMillan was yet to learn the truth as the persuasive con artist ingratiated himself.

“He told us that he was sick of the corporate life and that he wanted to get back on the tools. And we said to him: ‘Oh, are you a builder?’”

Coupe said he was.

“We said: ‘Well, we’re looking for a certified builder.’ And he said: ‘Yes, I can do that.’”

Later, McMillan and his family learned the man they were talking to was not a certified builder, and not a McGregor.

“Through a process of elimination, we actually found out that his real name was Aaron Coupe ... a serial bankrupt.”

McMillan said his family paid Coupe $184,000 but the total damage inflicted was probably closer to $250,000.

“And we’re still now having to pay a new builder to dismantle the old work and put the house together.”

The court heard Coupe scammed numerous residential and commercial projects and offended relentlessly, even when on bail.

“I’m pleased that he’s been recognised as being a serial criminal,” McMillan said.

McMillan’s sister, Heather McGuire, said she felt drained and sad - not at the eight-year cumulative sentence Coupe was handed after his second sentencing this year.

Heather McGuire said Coupe "financially disemboweled" people and used a web of lies. Photo / John Weekes

“This person took a whole lot of stopping. And it was really just the grim determination of myself and our family that supported the team who had been investigating him for more than seven years to bring to a close the mayhem that he wreaked.”

McGuire said her family had set up a Givealittle page to try to assist her brother and his wife, Ariarne.

The page takes its name from a moniker Judge Nevin Dawson applied to Coupe - “Glib Huckster”.

“We have waited to this point, where name suppression has been lifted, where he has been found guilty and sentenced for the worst crime of this kind ever in New Zealand,” McGuire added.

“We have waited for this point to set up a Givealittle page to try to help Ian and Ariarne actually get into a house with a flushing toilet. So, once they’re in their home, I think I will feel better.”

In court today, Judge Kathryn Maxwell said Coupe showed no remorse and another victim described him as a narcissist.

Does McMillan, whose house sits in tatters, believe a serial grifter or swindler such as Coupe can ever be reformed?

“I feel annoyed in myself for allowing it to go along as long as it did, but we had no reason not to.

“We are trusting people ... We were warned by close friends and even our neighbours that there’s something wrong with this chap, but we stood up for him.

“My feeling at the moment is that I don’t think he can change. And early on in this court proceeding, I felt that he needed more help than he’s going to get.”

McMillan might sound magnanimous despite losing so much to Coupe.

“I’m still a human being and that’s all I’ll say about that.”

John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation and court. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and court.