A Hamilton man is alleged to have racked up bills of $350,000 in the Waikato and Auckland for unpaid rent, telephone and power, as well as unpaid bills for work carried out at bars he worked with.
The Herald can reveal Matthew John Young's name. He battled for nearly three years to keep it suppressed, taking multiple applications and appeals through the District Court, High Court, Court of Appeal, before filing an application in the Supreme Court.
Young, 44, has a trial pending in April on 33 fraud, theft and bankruptcy charges relating to 16 victims between 2011 and 2014 stretching from the Waikato up to Auckland totalling about $350,000.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges of dishonestly using a document, carrying on a business fraudulently, managing a company while being a bankrupt, causing loss by deception, obtaining by deception and using an altered document with intent to deceive.
Young, a three-time bankrupt, is not allowed to operate, manage or be a director of a business.