Auckland mortgage fraud: Chris Peters admits $6.3m deception charges, Robert Peters walks free
Two of five members of an Auckland family charged over a collective $8.6m investment and mortgage fraud scheme appeared in the District Court. Chris Peters (left) pleaded guilty to five representative charges of obtaining $6.3m by deception, while his brother, Robert Peters (right), had charges against him dismissed. Photo / Jason Dorday
Nine years after defrauding banks and investors of millions, three years after being charged by the Serious Fraud Office and multiple failed attempts and appeals to secure name suppression, Chris Peters this morning quietly pleaded guilty on the eve of trial.
Chris Peters and his brother, Robert Peters, appeared before Judge Debra Bell in the Auckland District Court this morning.
The pair had both been charged by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), alongside three other Peters family members, over their involvement in an $8.6 million mortgage and investment fraud.
Chris’ pleas came on the morning his long-delayed trial scheduled to last for four weeks was due to begin.
According to the agreed summary of facts, Chris pleaded guilty to five representative charges covering the obtaining of $6.3m by deception.
At the same hearing, Robert saw the handful of charges laid against him dismissed after the SFO elected to offer no evidence.
The summary of facts said Chris, with another brother, Gerard Peters, procured $1.8m in late 2017 from an Auckland businessman and claimed the proceeds would be invested in private banking facilities.
The two brothers claimed the investment would be insured by a policy issued by Lloyd’s of London, and a document purporting to prove this was sent to the investor.
SFO investigations found the document had been drafted by both Chris and Gerard.
The summary of facts said: “The Peters did not hold insurance with Lloyd’s of London providing Investment Principle Indemnity Cover. The representation was false. Christopher knew this.”
Over the first 18 months, the investor was paid $558,016 in dividends. These then ceased, and the principal of $1.8m was never repaid.
The other four representative charges Chris pleaded guilty to related to helping to arrange four sham property sales at inflated prices in order to receive mortgage finance from various banks.
These sales involved faked evidence of deposits having been paid with non-existent gifts, inflated annual incomes available to service mortgage payments, and shunting properties rapidly through several transactions to jack up valuations and maximise loan amounts.
In total $4.47m was advanced by various banks, with later mortgagee sales seeing the banks short by more than $1.4m and several former owners losing their homes.
One of the properties involved, and later subject to mortgagee sale once the scheme unravelled, had been owned by Chris’ aunt.
Two of the properties involved were linked to Auckland pensioner Sandra Rosolowski.
The Herald started reporting on the case of the Peters family in early 2021, and interviewed Rosolowski at length about her finding out the house she thought was hers was not in her name and had a mortgage totalling more than $1m saddled against it.
She described her involvement with the Peters’ schemes as a “convoluted nightmare”.
The SFO later opened an investigation, but not before Rosolowski died of natural causes in May 2021. Her home was later sold at mortgagee sale, with the sale wiping out all her equity and leaving her estate with nothing.
Three other members of the Peters family alleged by the SFO to have been part of frauds totalling $8.6m in the case have either pleaded guilty or fled offshore.
Francis Peters, formerly a lawyer also known as Frank, pleaded guilty in 2024 to four fraud charges and was sentenced to nine-and-a-half months’ home detention. His convictions later saw him struck off the roll of barristers and solicitors.
Gerard, the family member facing the most charges, was said to have departed New Zealand for Malaysia in October 2019 – shortly after police began investigating – and has not returned.
Herald investigations suggest Gerard has in recent years spent time in Zimbabwe.
Serene Peters – the mother of Gerard, Chris, Frank and Robert – left New Zealand for Malaysia in September 2023 just before charges were filed.
The summary of facts states: “She was notified of these charges while in Malaysia and advised she was in Malaysia for a funeral and intended to return to New Zealand, but she has not.”
The summary of facts accompanying Chris Peters’ guilty plea show proceeds of the mortgage fraud were largely paid to bank accounts controlled by Serene.
The proceeds of the $1.8m investment fraud were said to have been paid into Singapore accounts controlled by Gerard.
Judge Bell set a sentencing hearing for Chris, who has no prior convictions, for October 30.
She ordered his present, non-custodial, bail conditions to continue.
“This, of course, is no indication for your end sentence,” Judge Bell warned.
After this morning’s hearing, Chris declined an opportunity from the Herald to comment about the case.
In January 2019 – after the police had begun probing the case and months before his brother, Gerard, fled the country – Chris recorded on Goodreads that he had recently finished reading a book.
That book? Dalila Benachenhou’s Spot Financial Shenanigans: Easy Steps to Fraud Detection for Individual Investors.
Matt Nippert is an Auckland-based investigations reporter covering white-collar and transnational crimes and the intersection of politics and business. He has won more than a dozen awards for his journalism – including twice being named Reporter of the Year – and joined the Herald in 2014 after having spent the decade prior reporting from business newspapers and national magazines.
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