Covid wage subsidy fraud, money laundering case: Luke Daniel Rivers pleads guilty to nearly $1m fraud

Nearly two years after this court appearance, Luke Daniel Rivers has admitted multiple charges. Photo / Dean Purcell

A father of three used a fake passport in a massive wage subsidy fraud and money laundering scam.

Luke Daniel Rivers today admitted 29 charges.

In June 2023, the Herald revealed the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) had accused Rivers of defrauding taxpayers of nearly $1 million.

At the time, MSD alleged Rivers had tried to get another $738,000 in Covid wage subsidies.

Auckland District Court today heard the value of Rivers’ offending totalled about $982,000.

“Mr Rivers intends to make full reparation,” defence counsel Baden Meyer told the court.

The Crown opposed bail, saying a jail sentence was “inevitable” and Rivers was a flight risk.

Meyer disagreed: “His life is here ... he’s not going anywhere”.

The court heard Rivers had used forged documents and a forged passport, but further details were not discussed in depth.

Meyer said Rivers had been compliant with electronic bail, and had admitted additional charges which were not committed on bail.

Meyer said there was a way for Rivers to get money back from Singapore.

Rivers told the court he had been in New Zealand for 25 years. He was convicted and remanded on bail for sentencing in August.

MSD’s George Van Ooyen previously said Rivers faced charges relating to dishonestly using a document and money laundering.

In May last year, the Herald learned Inland Revenue was also prosecuting Rivers.

It’s understood those IRD charges related to a lower amount than the MSD allegations.

The court last year heard a trial for Rivers could take up to five weeks, and 72 witness statements had already been taken.

The Rivers case is believed to be the biggest MSD wage subsidy prosecution in New Zealand.

Luke Daniel Rivers was arrested in the largest MSD wage subsidy fraud prosecution. Photo / Dean Purcell

On Thursday, another man who used fraudulent details in Covid wage subsidy applications was sentenced to home detention.

MSD said Jesse Robert Black pleaded guilty to dishonestly using documents to make the applications.

The ministry said Black applied using his own name and the names of other people who were either fictitious or who had not given him permission to apply.

Black dishonestly obtained $28,118.40, and tried to get another $104,729.20.

The ministry late last week said 36 people had been sentenced in wage subsidy cases, and another 53 were still before the courts.

As of March 31, more than $829 million in wage subsidies had been repaid.