NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business

Business Insider: Agent beats watchdog to the punch

NZ Herald
22 Jan, 2016 04:00 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can. Photo / Supplied

Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can. Photo / Supplied

Recruiters and corporate regulator failed to pick up man's forgeries

A forger and former Financial Markets Authority analyst was unmasked as a crook by a real estate agent while he was still working at the corporate watchdog.

The fact that a Barfoot & Thompson agent smelled a rat so quickly and the authority did not is another bad look for the regulator, which ideally should be investigating fraudsters rather than hiring them.

READ MORE:
• Fraudster analyst denied bail
• Fraudster analyst 'pulled the wool'

Business Insider does have a sliver of sympathy for the FMA, given that Benjamin Anthony Kiro came recommended by Auckland's Frog Recruitment, which ran identity checks, performed competency interviews and received two verbal references. When Kiro was charged, Frog Recruitment director Jane Kennelly said the matter was being taken "extremely seriously".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The forged academic record from Australian universities that Kiro used to get the analyst job was also apparently stamped by a Justice of the Peace.

Once Kiro got a foot in the door at the FMA in September 2014, he managed to stay for another three months.

That's much more time than he enjoyed in the downtown Auckland apartment he attempted to rent when he started at the market regulator.

Kiro, according to the Tenancy Tribunal, told Barfoot & Thompson he was employed by Fonterra as head of engineering and provided a copy of his contract to secure his lease.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Less than a week after Kiro got the keys to the Gore St apartment, the real estate firm was advised by the dairy giant that he didn't work there and the contract was bogus.

Since these events, the FMA has completed a review of its processes to ensure that it cannot happen again.

"Barfoot & Thompson Ltd has therefore reasonably concluded the information supplied to it by Mr Kiro is false and amounts to fraud," the Tenancy Tribunal said the following month when cancelling the rental agreement.

The false Fonterra contract - which used the wrong logo and address for the co-operative - was behind one of the 23 charges to which Kiro pleaded guilty this week.

The 35-year-old also doctored an offer of work from AMP Capital and a letter of employment from BT Financial Group.

To Business Insider, Kiro appears to be the classic confidence man, described by one of his victims as "charming, gregarious, good looking, well spoken, well dressed".

He calls to mind Frank Abagnale Jnr, a conman who posed as an airline pilot, doctor and lawyer and was fictionalised by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2002 film Catch Me if You Can.

Kiro also convinced women he met on online dating sites such as Tinder, or businessmen introduced to him by associates, to invest in companies soon to list on the stock exchange.

Police say the funds given to Kiro - about $330,000 - were never invested.

At least one victim, who "invested" $120,000 with Kiro, said the fact he worked at the FMA gave him credibility.

Credibility, too, is what Kiro took from the FMA when his chicanery came to light.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

An FMA spokesman said Kiro came to the FMA through a third party which it relied on for reference checks. The qualifications in his CV had been certified by a JP.

"Since these events, the FMA has completed a review of its processes to ensure that it cannot happen again.

"From now on all probity checks and qualifications will be checked at source either by the FMA or a third party. We are confident in the quality and integrity of our current FMA staff."

Double trouble

Benjamin Kiro. Photo / Supplied
Benjamin Kiro. Photo / Supplied

Business Insider wonders if Kiro is facing a probe across the Ditch, where he once played professional league in Sydney.

Asked whether they were investigating Kiro, the New South Wales police would say only: "NSW Police Force, Northern Beaches Local Area Command, are currently investigating fraud matters, as the investigation is ongoing it is inappropriate to comment further."

Trusts under 'scope

Any spouse who has siphoned savings into a trust before separating will be sweating to see if the Supreme Court still releases a decision in a $28 million divorce wrangle which settled before Christmas.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mark and Melanie Clayton's eight-year fight was argued before the country's highest judicial body in September, but the ex-husband and wife reached an out-of-court deal while waiting for its decision.

The Court of Appeal's decision in the case had huge implications for trusts, finding they "get busted wide open" - in the words of one highly regarded Queens Counsel specialising in relationships law - if someone puts assets into the trust in an effort to avoid relationship property law. Given the popularity of trusts in New Zealand, lawyers and their clients will be interested to see whether Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias and her colleagues push on and release their judgment.

Queen's Counsel and family law specialist Simon Jefferson told Business Insider that where a case has been fully argued, the Supreme Court has discretion to release a judgment, notwithstanding any settlement.

"I understand the parties would need to ask the court to exercise its discretion ... the importance of the issues would be a material consideration. If it was felt their decision was required to clarify the law, then that would influence their decision to either issue it or not," said Jefferson, who was not involved in the Claytons' case.

The hard-working quintet on the Supreme Court bench are not back in the seat until next month and so any ruling will not come before then.

In with a sniff

 Darrell 'Big Nose' Read. Photo / Bloomberg
Darrell 'Big Nose' Read. Photo / Bloomberg

A London jury will next week begin deliberating on whether New Zealand resident Darrell Read is guilty of trying to manipulate the London interbank offered rate, better known as Libor. Read and his five co-accused allegedly helped Tom Hayes, a former Tokyo-based UBS and Citigroup trader, profit from his yen derivatives trades.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Read, known by his former colleagues at brokerage house ICAP as "Big Nose", moved to Wellington in 2007 from Britain.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Premium
Retail

'Give it a second chance': Ruby's recycled clothing venture takes off

06 Jul 03:00 AM
Premium
Opinion

Opinion: What to do if you have been left out of a parent's will

06 Jul 12:00 AM
New Zealand

26-year-old beats seven finalists to win Young Farmer of the Year

05 Jul 11:41 PM

Audi offers a sporty spin on city driving with the A3 Sportback and S3 Sportback

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Premium
'Give it a second chance': Ruby's recycled clothing venture takes off

'Give it a second chance': Ruby's recycled clothing venture takes off

06 Jul 03:00 AM

Miller-Sharma aiming for 25% of revenue from non-new clothing by 2030.

Premium
Opinion: What to do if you have been left out of a parent's will

Opinion: What to do if you have been left out of a parent's will

06 Jul 12:00 AM
26-year-old beats seven finalists to win Young Farmer of the Year

26-year-old beats seven finalists to win Young Farmer of the Year

05 Jul 11:41 PM
Premium
Trump’s finances were shaky. Then he began to capitalise on his comeback

Trump’s finances were shaky. Then he began to capitalise on his comeback

05 Jul 08:00 PM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP