Nate Nauer during the Operation Nova trial in 2020. Photo / Brett Phibbs
The Auckland media personality jailed on Wednesday morning for laundering drug money for the Comancheros gang will appeal his prison sentence, his lawyer says.
Former Mai FM host Nate Nauer was sentenced to prison on Wednesday in the Auckland District Court alongside his co-offenders Yonghao Huang, a car dealer, and Vetekina Naufahu, brother of the gang’s New Zealand president.
Judge Nevin Dawson sentenced him in the Auckland District Court to two years, nine months prison to be served concurrently after he pleaded guilty to six money laundering charges.
He laundered $420,000 for the Comancheros, mainly via paying cash for luxury vehicles.
Judge Dawson adopted a starting point of three years, nine months for Nauer, before adding a three-month uplift for his offending while on bail, even though those charges were dropped, because he had breached bail conditions..
Nauer was given a 20 per cent discount for his guilty plea and smaller discounts for his previous good character and rehabilitative efforts, taking the end sentence to two years and nine months on all charges, to be served concurrently.
His lawyer Ron Mansfield KC, who sought home detention, told the Herald after the hearing that he intended to lodge an appeal for Nauer and his co-accused, Vetekina Naufahu, brother of the gang’s New Zealand president Pasilika. Mansfield said the sentences were “inappropriate and excessive”.
The Herald has sought further information on the grounds of the appeal and how Nauer’s legal team believes Judge Dawson erred.
The sentence has copped both support and criticism online. BBM Motivation founder Dave Letele, who was in court to support Nauer with a large contingent of others wearing BBM branded clothes, said on social media Nauer had volunteered for his organisation for three years.
Letele said Nauer had been rehabilitated and there was no point sending him back to prison, and home detention should have been the outcome. There was shock and surprise in the public gallery when the prison sentence was handed down.
Nauer has had name suppression since his legal troubles began over four years ago, but this lifted at sentencing on Wednesday when he did not seek permanent suppression.
It can also now be reported Nauer was the same media personality who was charged with money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group, as part of the police’s Operation Nova.
The charges were dropped against him at trial due to insufficient evidence.
Mansfield said the fact he was on bail for the Operation Nova charges meant he lost his successful media career and his friends. He ended up isolated, using drugs every day and with only criminals for friends, Mansfield said.
Nauer admitted laundering $420,000 of Comanchero drug money by repeatedly purchasing high-end cars using cash. Naufahu in one case laundered money via a cosmetic procedure for calf implants.
Judge Nevin Dawson sentenced Nauer to two years, nine months’ imprisonment on all charges, to be served concurrently. The sentence took into account a discount for his guilty pleas and his previous good character.
Naufahu was jailed for two years and four months and Huang to two years and eight months.
They all laundered Comancheros drug money through the cash purchases of luxury cars and, in one instance for Naufahu, via a cosmetic procedure for calf implants.
Early in 2020, Nauer was suddenly absent from the Mai Morning Crew after 10 years with the station.
A post on the Mediaworks-owned Mai FM website at the time said he had left to “focus on spending time with family and other career opportunities”.
Crown prosecutor Henry Steele sought a starting point of three and a half years in prison for Huang and four years for Nauer. Steele said Nauer was more culpable because it was he who involved Huang.
The prosecution said a lower starting point for Naufahu of two and a half years was appropriate because he laundered a lower amount of money, just over $90,000, which went to the rent of his family home in Silverdale and his implants.
Mansfield said Nauer’s life fell apart while he was on bail for the Operation Nova charges that were dropped at trial.
“Your honour can see Mr Nauer as someone who had a brilliant career in the media, and whose life had been progressing well,” Mansfield said.
When he lost his job after he was charged, his life spiralled down into addiction and criminality as former friends deserted him, leaving him with only gang members and criminals for friends. He became reliant daily on drugs and alcohol, Mansfield said.
“Everyone that he knew professionally and personally walked from him.
“His life just spiralled down.”
Mansfield sought home detention for both Nauer and Naufahu.
He said Nauer was entitled to significant sentence reductions for his guilty plea, his efforts towards rehabilitation and the fact he was “wrongly accused” in Operation Nova.
Naufahu was entitled to a discount for matters raised in his cultural report, though Steele said that same cultural report had been used to obtain discounts at earlier sentencings, and a lesser discount for cultural factors should now apply.
Judge Dawson agreed.
“You don’t get a lifelong discount for cultural reports,” he told Naufahu.
“There is a point where you have to take personal responsibility for your actions.”
Before jailing the trio, Judge Dawson said the gravity of their offending and their degree of culpability was relatively high.
He adopted a starting point of three years, nine months for Nauer, then a three-month uplift for his offending while on bail, even though those charges did not proceed.
Nauer was given a 20 per cent discount for his guilty plea and small discounts for his previous good character and rehabilitative efforts, taking the end sentence to two years and nine months on all charges, to be served concurrently.
Naufahu was given a starting point of two-and-a-half years with the same uplift for offending on bail, with a 15 per cent discount for the guilty plea and a small discount for other matters, taking the sentence to two years and four months.
Huang was given similar discounts plus a 5 per cent reduction for his previous good character, taking him to two years and eight months in prison, just a few months north of the range where home detention would have been an option.
A woman in the public gallery swore in surprise under her breath when the prison sentence for Nauer was handed down.
Naufahu was asked to remove his jewellery before he and the others were taken down into the cells at the court.
Patched Comanchero member Naufahu and Huang were arrested in a 2020 police sting that seized more than $650,000 worth of assets including five luxury cars, one of them a limited edition G-Class Mercedes-Benz worth $275,000.
A police investigation into the Comanchero motorcycle gang’s money laundering operations, dubbed Operation Rider, began in late 2019 after Operation Nova.
Police said the operation involved staff from the National Organised Crime Group and Northern Asset Recovery Unit.
Court documents show the men knew they were laundering cash made from dealings in Class A controlled drugs.
Naufahu laundered nearly $100,000 over almost two years, used to pay a substantial portion of his weekly rent of $930.
He bought the limited-edition Mercedes-Benz and also paid some $16,000 in cash for the cosmetic surgery.
Nauer laundered $420,000, mainly used to pay for four cars - an Audi, two BMWs and a Mercedes-Benz.
A summary of facts showed he laundered the cash, which he and the car dealer referred to as “noodles”, by making part payments on the cars.
He asked the car dealer to keep them registered under his business’ name to hide the true ownership.
A witness reported seeing a police officer setting up a rifle.