When Kim Elliston got into debt she tried to get millions of dollars from banks and finance companies by stealing and forging cheques and bank statements.
She did not want any help, started lying and it all spiralled out of control, she told police.
On one occasion she wrote out a
cheque for almost $2.6 million and tried to bank it.
The 26-year-old Rotorua housekeeper, who is bankrupt, yesterday pleaded guilty in the Rotorua District Court to 12 charges including forgery, obtaining money by deception and using forged documents.
She forged several bank statements and a receipt to show she had a large amount of funds in a joint account with her husband so her father-in-law would invest his money with her. She now owes her father-in-law $130,000.
Elliston also stole a cheque and presented a number of cheques from a closed bank account to buy goods and services.
Police say Elliston and her husband Ryan Elliston were farming on her parents' Waikite farm. She was in charge of the financial accounts for the farm and personal matters, conducting some of the banking over the internet. She told her husband and father-in-law she was an Amway consultant and was making hundreds of thousands of dollars selling Amway.
In November 2003, she forged her husband's signature to get a loan for $10,000. The loan was approved and paid to Elliston without her husband's knowledge. She failed to pay back the loan and two years later her parents paid it.
In December 2004, she forged her husband's signature four times and the signature of a Justice of the Peace without their knowledge for a $13,000 loan to buy a car.
In April 2005, she was adjudicated bankrupt as she had a number of outstanding debts which were settled by her parents. In July of that year she took a cheque from a closed bank account.
She wrote the cheque out for almost $2.6 million, attempting to deposit it.
The transaction was entered into her bank account but later reversed when it was discovered the cheque was valueless.
She also forged various bank statements. On one occasion she forged a statement to show $2.6 million had been deposited from a bank account into the Ellison Farm Trust.
She faxed a forged bank statement to her father-in-law showing a balance of almost $2.8 million, earning 24.7 per cent interest.
This led to her father-in law writing her a cheque for $130,000. The money was intended to be used to lease a farm in the future as a joint venture between himself, his son and Elliston. Elliston banked the cheque into her account.
In August, she stole a cheque from her father-in-law. The cheque was made out for $32,400 to purchase a car. The car was repossessed after it was found the cheque was stolen.
Elliston and her husband separated during the time of the fraud.
Elliston pleaded not guilty to one charge of fraud and a charge of money laundering and has been remanded for a depositions hearing in June.
Judge Chris McGuire remanded Elliston on bail for sentencing on June 1. He imposed a bail condition preventing Elliston from opening any more bank accounts or borrowing money.
Elliston's lawyer Prue McGuire requested a psychiatric assessment to assist in sentencing.
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