One of the country’s most prolific conmen claims he is coming home - two years after he fled the country.
Wayne Eaglesome, who has used dozens of aliases over the years, was jailed in 2018 for managing a company while prohibited and making a false statement. He is also a convicted sex offender. He fled the country more than two years ago.
Among his aliases are George Von Rothschild, Father Antony Garibaldi, Dr Angus Harrow, Alex Newman, Bernhardt Bentinck, Alex Bergen, Bernhardt Augustus Longwater, Barnaby Gordon, Richard Mountjoy, Alex Bauer and Ari Ben Yitzhak.
The con artist has claimed to be a super-yacht-owning Harvard graduate and multi-millionaire, confidant to Saudi princes, a World Bank tax analyst, a long-standing member of the New York State Bar Association, and grandson of a top surgeon who once saved the life of Fidel Castro’s wife.
After his release from prison in October 2020 he racked up fresh charges for breaching release conditions. However, he failed to appear in court and told his lawyer he was in Laos, Southeast Asia.
The Herald was recently approached by several tourists travelling in Barcelona, Spain, who had stayed with the larger-than-life fraudster at a hostel while allegedly offering large amounts of money to men for sex. The Herald was sent several photos of Eaglesome at the hostel.
The Herald approached Eaglesome, who was going by Alex, for comment before the article was published.
He did not respond, however, his profile photo was changed from one bearing a striking resemblance to Eaglesome to another animated picture.
However, after the article ran he contacted the Herald saying some details in the article were wrong.
One of the tourists who spoke to the Herald said Eaglesome claimed he was in Barcelona to buy a pair of exclusive shoes - the Jordan 1 Retro High Dior shoes, which he said he was paying €16,000 ($29,000) for, and a prototype of unreleased Louis Vuitton X Nike Dunk sneakers he paid €8000 for.
“I did buy the sneakers and I paid €22,000 … and the second pair of sneakers I paid for those as well but they were €11,000. And whilst I have been in Spain I’m currently closer to New Zealand Today than I’ve been in two years,” he said.
“But I’m not travelling on New Zealand passport I haven’t been for quite some time.”
He also rejected allegations he offered money to men for sex.
“I never offered anyone any money; question was asked by somebody else if they would have sex with a man for money and I simply encouraged the conversation.
“I never offered anyone anything.”
He said he would be changing his phone number “mainly because maintaining a German number in Asia is just not productive.
“And finally you’ll be happy to know that I am flying home to New Zealand that I will land in November.”
He said he was not willing to provide a copy of his ticket.
One of the tourists from Ireland, who asked not to be named, said he was hanging out near the hostel pool on August 23 with friends when a man joined them and “struck up a friendly conversation”.
The man introduced himself as Alex and said he was originally from London but was living in Germany.
“The hostel was filled with solo travellers, so it was common for people to engage in friendly conversations and ask questions,” the tourist said.
“However, what set Alex apart was his distinctive posh English accent and his clear air of wealth.”
The tourist said the group became “intrigued” by Alex’s demeanour and started asking him questions about his background and occupation.
Alex also claimed he worked for BlackRock in a “high-ranking position.
“He recounted stories of BlackRock employees receiving free iPhones every six months, enjoying 90 annual holidays, and using a significant portion of their work budget for entertainment while abroad.
“He emphasised that he hadn’t paid for a personal trip in over two decades, as he could claim his expenses as business-related wherever he travelled.”
A BlackRock spokeswoman told the Herald Eaglesome had never worked for or been employed by BlackRock.
He bought drinks for the group and allegedly recounted stories involving wealthy individuals paying for sexual favours from straight men.
“Alex also presented hypothetical questions about accepting money to engage in homosexual acts, drawing reactions from us.”
As the day progressed Alex began telling the group he owned hostels globally, including in Ireland, Bangkok and Phuket - all catering to backpackers.
The tourist asked him why, given his apparent wealth, he was staying in a hostel.
“He expressed a genuine interest in connecting with fellow travellers and hearing their stories.”
He boasted to the group about his purported friendship with the royal family, mentioning his father’s title as Earl of Mt Edgecumbe, bestowed for his grandfather’s service to the King.
He also showed them information about bitcoin, advising them to invest and they would “become wealthy within 30 days”, the tourist said.
Eaglesome also claimed his salary was £900,000 ($1.9m) with £1.9m in stocks.
The day ended with the entire hostel having a poolside party, which Alex covered the expenses for. Waitstaff told the guests Alex had spent about €4000 in two days.
Eventually, doubts began to creep in among the guests.
“We discussed our experiences with fellow hotel guests, contemplating the bizarre encounter with the seemingly wealthy man. While we were initially unsure, the mounting evidence suggested that Alex may be a very wealthy individual involved in bitcoin trading, despite potential fabrications about his career.”
Another tourist who stayed at the hostel, Emily Pennington, from Melbourne, Australia, said Alex told the group he had a yacht and that he had to sail from Barcelona to Mallorca and started offering places on the yacht to the group.
“He said there was 10 places, but he only wanted men on there and only wanted ‘vaginas’ to come if it would make the men happy.”
Pennington agreed to go on the yacht, as did some others.
Alex appeared “very charismatic and confident”, Pennington said.
“[He] created a big party atmosphere in the group after supplying so much alcohol.”
The game was up when Alex mentioned he had been at the Tomorrowland festival. Pennington recalled a friend telling her while she was at the festival about meeting a “posh British conman” at the festival. they had met.
“My stomach dropped,” she recalled.
She called her friend to ask for the conman’s name.
“He said his name was Wayne Eaglesome and then we pulled up the articles about who he was and started spreading the word around the pool.
“I literally was handing my phone around the pool in front of Wayne, letting people read the articles about him being a sex offender right in front of him.”
Unaware of what the tourists were reading, Alex went to dinner with the group. However, by now nearly everyone knew his background.
During the dinner, an argument broke out between two men and Alex after it became clear to them he was lying about offering to pay for one of the group’s flights home to Zurich.
During the argument, one of the men confronted him about his convictions, and Alex left.
The tourist from Ireland said Alex was “red with embarrassment”, and went to his room.
“He vanished from the hostel, and we never saw him again. The receptionist confirmed his departure, ending our bewildering encounter.”
Pennington said the hostel called the police, who said there was nothing they could do as he was facing no charges in Spain.
In 2003, Eaglesome was pulled over in a taxi near Kaikoura wearing the robes of a priest and carrying a stolen credit card.
In 2006 he was jailed for five years after sexually violating and indecently assaulting an 18-year-old backpacker and indecently assaulting another youth.
Shortly before he was last sentenced Eaglesome tried to change his name to Barnaby Gordon.
In the Christchurch District Court Judge Tom Gilbert said the constant name changes had helped him to continue to offend over the years.
Eaglesome, then going by Alex Bergen, tried to have his name suppressed but was rejected.
“You, Mr Bergen, are an inveterate fraud,” Judge Gilbert said, adding that he “lives the life of a conman”.
His observations mirror previous parole reports that have detailed him as a narcissist and “prolific high-risk confidence man”.
Eaglesome had also claimed that he’d changed his name again to Bauer, but couldn’t provide any proof.
And he also alleged that he’d renounced his New Zealand citizenship – again claims the court couldn’t establish.
“The difficulty with you, Mr Bergen, is one doesn’t know when you are telling the truth and when you are not,” Judge Gilbert said.
“You, in making the assertions to me in the past, were simply trying to mislead me to your own ends.”
Eaglesome challenged the decision at the High Court.
He later dropped his bid for name suppression but tried to get his sentence quashed. He was not successful.
Sam Sherwood is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers crime. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2022, and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
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