More than $2.1m forfeited to police by 'ghostwriter' uni service

More than 11,500 assignments were sold between June 2006 and June 2013, according to the police, with an average price of $406. Photo / 123RF

Settlement reached three days into four-week hearing on alleged "ghostwriting" services

More than $2.1 million will be forfeited to the police following a long-running legal battle with an alleged cheating service for university assignments.

In the first case of its kind, a settlement judgment released to the Herald this afternoon comes five years after the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and the police first started an investigation into Assignment4U.

No charges were ever laid, but the police took a civil case under the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act, which has a lower evidential threshold of on the balance of probabilities.

The police case was Steven Li and Fan Yang, linked to companies running Assignment4U, were providing "cheating services" for students to fraudulently submit purchased assignments as their own work.

In response, Li and Yang said Assignment4U simply provided "model answers" to be used as study aids.

Any students who submitted the purchased assignments did so on their own volition and contrary to Assignment4U's disclaimers.

The case finally made it to the High Court this month but three days into the four-week hearing, a settlement was reached.

The settlement of $2.1m - without any admission of liability and wrongdoing - was approved by Justice Mark Woolford this afternoon and released to the Herald.

The settlement was in the overall interests of justice, said the judge, and represented a "commonsense compromise" which avoided a lengthy trial.

The judgment of Justice Woolford outlined the police case as one where students would lodge requests with Assignment4U for assignments to be written.

They would provide the assignment question, word limits, relevant textbooks and even their university log-in details.

"Generally, Assignment4U's fee would be set by reference to the word count. But students could also request assignments of a particular standard. The price would adjust accordingly - pay more for a better grade," wrote Justice Woolford, in summarising the case.

"Students could also pay more for faster turnarounds. If the desired grade or turnaround was not achieved, the student would be provided 'Assignment4U store credit'."

The disclaimers, that the assignments were to be used as study aids only, were a "sham", said the police.

A network of "ghostwriters", independent contractors, would complete the assignment for the business and paid a portion of Assignment4U's fee.

More than 11,500 assignments were sold between June 2006 and June 2013, according to the police, with an average price of $406.

The police also alleged mortgage fraud was committed by several members of the Li family - which was denied by the respondents.

The police initially sought $4.7m - multiplying the number of assignments by the average price - as profit derived from unlawful activity.

While there is a gap between the $4.7m sought by the police and the final settlement of $2.1m, Justice Woolford said the shortfall was not as significant as it seems on first glance.

About 70 per cent of the price per assignment was paid to the "ghostwriters" and only 3200 assignments were sold after August 2011 - the date on which the Education Act offence on which the police relied on came into force.

Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Allan, of the Northern Asset Recovery Unit, says the settlements are a successful outcome following years of work on the complex investigation by dedicated police staff.

"This investigation reflects that Police are committed to seeking out and confiscating the profits of crime even when there might be insufficient evidence to commence a criminal prosecution."