Mother and daughter: Ann Fraser, 58, left, and Cheyanne Fraser, outside the Hamilton District Court today before being sentenced on various charges. Photo / Belinda Feek
A kingpin of a Waikato-based drug syndicate involved in the large-scale distribution ofdrugs used fellow family members to help launder his ill-gotten gains, and even used Ubers to ferry drugs around.
A month into their covert, Operation Hurricane, police estimated Madison Fraser-Webb had made $2 million in profit from the sale and supply of methamphetamine, cocaine, ketamine, LSD, MDMA, oxycodone, cannabis, zopiclone, and codeine, in which money was laundered primarily through assets and cryptocurrency.
Fraser-Webb, known as “Crypto”, and a co-defendant would regularly rent and move between Airbnb properties where they would sell drugs, while his family, including mother Ann Margaret Fraser, and sister Cheyanne Fraser, would then pay the rentals and other bills.
Ann Fraser, 58, and Cheyanne Fraser, 31, acted as Fraser-Webb’s “bank”, storing the profits in their own bank accounts and giving him cash when required.
At one point, the family treated themselves to a cruise and bought assets, including vehicles, for their efforts.
Fraser-Webb’s primary school teacher aunt, Debbie Maree Readhead, stored $400,000 on his behalf, while another associate, Barbara Shadbolt, 63, helped sell and source drugs.
Fraser-Webb also had an Auckland co-defendant Uber large amounts of cocaine, P, LSD, and MDMA to his various rental properties. On one occasion, a firearm was also sent down via Uber.
Fraser-Webb and his family appeared in the Hamilton District Court today for sentencing on a variety of charges before Judge Glen Marshall.
Police launched Operation Hurricane on January 1, 2024.
The following month, and after receiving a threat from a member of the Head Hunter gang for 25% of a $2 million profit he had made, Fraser-Webb bought a pistol for $8000.
It was then Ubered to his Hamilton house from Auckland.
Upon receiving it, Fraser-Webb told his co-defendant he was “a bit scared to open the package” as the firearm was loaded.
Family members created cryptocurrency accounts on Binance, KuCoin, Coinbase, and Easy Crypto on Fraser-Webb’s behalf.
Text messages between the family showed he would instruct them to send money into specific accounts.
Multiple “seed phrases” were found at his mother’s property, including login details for his rental property.
Analysis found $70,175 was received from unknown sources, with $15,200 deposited into Ann Fraser’s account, while Cheyanne Fraser used a small portion to pay for his rent.
Police searched his Prescott Place, Hamilton property on July 22, 2024, and found a laptop, various cellphones, two fake NZ driver’s licences, along with 236g of cannabis, 13 MDMA pills, packets of oxycodone, two small snaplock bags of meth, and other medication.
Fraser-Webb supplied, or offered to supply, about 625.5g of meth, 156g of cocaine, 200g of MDMA, 1.307 litres of GBL, 16.42 ounces of cannabis, and unknown quantities of ketamine and oxycodone to others.
Texts revealed he talked with a co-defendant about arranging to make 110,000 tabs of LSD, and went to another associate’s house to “wash” 1kg of meth for sale.
Fraser-Webb also discussed selling “at least” 4kg of cocaine.
When police terminated the operation and searched the homes of the defendants, they uncovered a raft of drugs, pills, firearm ammunition, drug utensils, a coffee cart trailer, and cash.
As well as his key role in the crime syndicate, Fraser-Webb ordered various electronic devices from PB Technologies’ website between April and June 2024 using fake identities and credit cards he wasn’t the owner of, totalling $10,772.63.
Crown Solicitor Jacinda Hamilton said Fraser Webb was driven by financial gain and labelled it a large-scale, drug-dealing operation that saw him make $2m in profit.
Fraser-Webb’s counsel, Bill Nabney, said while his client accepted his leading role in the operation, he disagreed with the Crown that 625g of meth was a lot.
“With all due respect, it’s not a lot. It’s not a major methamphetamine-dealing operation,” he told Judge Marshall.
He did accept it was a commercial operation, but he urged the judge to step back and look at the “overall context of a 10-month operation”.
As for the $2m profit, Nabney said there was no evidence of that, and it was simply an estimate by police.
Nabney added that one of his client’s biggest regrets had been getting his family involved.
He was also relieved at getting caught, as the bigger the drug-dealing syndicate became, the more drugs he used.
“His drug addiction was getting out of control.
“He has accepted the profound effect he has had on others, including his family ... and the harm that these pernicious drugs cause.”
Judge Marshall took a starting point of 18 years’ jail, and applied discounts for his plea, section 27 and background factors, and the impact of a jail term on his young child.
He jailed Fraser-Webb for 11 years and eight months on 39 charges, and ordered him to serve a minimum non-parole period of 45% or five years and three months.
Cheyanne Fraser’s counsel, Scott McKenna, pushed for pleas totalling 45%, taking into account her pleas, previous good character, remorse, and personal circumstances, particularly the impact of sentencing on her children.
“She has shown a real commitment to her family,” he said, explaining that she had helped in the care of other family members’ children.
“That really has brought home a real deep sense of regret,” McKenna said of the impact of her offending on the children.
On charges of participating in an organised criminal group, conspiring to supply LSD, and two charges of money laundering, Judge Marshall sentenced Fraser to 12 months’ supervision and five months’ community detention.
Ann Fraser had earlier admitted two charges of money laundering.
She had given $5000 to co-accused Readhead as payment to look after $400,000, while she had laundered $15,200 through her personal bank account.
Fraser had also made cash pick-ups and drop-offs from Readhead’s property.
Hamilton said Fraser was responsible for laundering $474,000, which required a level of sophistication.
Her offending was also motivated by financial gain.
“The defendant’s role was fairly significant,” Hamilton told the judge.
Her counsel, Lisa Davis, said she was “extremely remorseful for the situation that her and her family have found themselves in”.
“She at the time thought that she was making good decisions in support of her son and other children, however, looking back now, she does accept that those decisions may have been bad.”
Judge Marshall allowed discounts, including 5% for her personal circumstances, accepting that she would have been vulnerable at the time due to the death of her husband.
Ann Fraser was sentenced to 12 months’ supervision and five months’ supervision.
Barbara Shadbolt admitted charges of participating in an organised criminal group, supplying P, oxycodone, LSD, cannabis, and cocaine, and possession of utensils.
Her counsel, Russell Boot, urged the judge to hand down a sentence of home detention due to her various health issues.
She was also due to have a heart operation this month.
Judge Marshall agreed and sentenced her to 12 months’ home detention.
Readhead, through her counsel, Philip Cornege, tried unsuccessfully for a Section 106 discharge without conviction on a representative charge of money laundering.
Cornege submitted his client was “naive” and only held on to the money until the co-defendants asked for it back.
“What she did do was hold on to some money for her nephew.”
Her naivety also led to the unravelling of Fraser-Webb’s operation as when she was spoken to by police, she told them of the $400,000 she had been asked to store on his behalf by his mother and sister.
She said she was given $5000 by Ann Fraser, spent $8000 of the cash, and that Fraser-Webb’s money was used to fund a family cruise.
He had also paid for a $20,000 coffee cart trailer.
Cornege said the impact of a money-laundering conviction would not only impact his client’s ability to get a mortgage, but also for her to retain her teaching certificate.
He said the Teachers Council would likely take a more “lenient approach” if she did not have a conviction.
But Hamilton said she was not naive, more “wilfully blind”.
“She knew Mr Fraser-Webb was involved in drugs when she was asked to look after the money.
“She was prepared to accept an assurance that it was not, but she did so ... [but] felt incredibly uncomfortable about it.
“She was not merely holding this money without any commercial return to herself.”
Hamilton pointed to the $5000 fee for storing the cash, the $20,000 coffee cart trailer, a further $8000 cash, and that she went on the family holiday.
Judge Marshall said Readhead was the custodian of a very large sum of money and found that she was “at least wilfully blind”.
He accepted she had no previous convictions and had been a contributor to her community throughout her life and working career, and was unlikely to reoffend.
However, he declined her application, and instead convicted her and sentenced her to three months’ community detention.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.