Report a fraud

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has laid charges against Mark Lawrence Ivil (58) in the Tauranga District Court.

SFO charges elusive defendant Mark Ivil

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has laid charges against Mark Lawrence Ivil (58) in the Tauranga District Court.

Mr Ivil faces 21 charges of obtaining by deception, 14 charges of obtaining by false pretence, two charges of using a forged document and two charges of obstructing an investigation.

The SFO investigation looked into Mr Ivil's activities since the early 1990s and the SFO alleges that he has survived financially by receiving cash and direct credit payments from a number of people. The SFO alleges Mr Ivil persuaded these people to provide him with funds with convincing and plausible scenarios about returns on a property development in Australia as well as other schemes.

The total quantum the SFO alleges Mr Ivil obtained from the complainants from 1990 to 2014 is approximately $4.28 million.

The SFO also laid charges in relation to Mr Ivil's failure to appear at an interview with SFO investigators and failure to provide documents required by the SFO, during the investigation.

SFO Director, Julie Read said, "Mr Ivil has a reputation for being elusive and using aliases. This could potentially mean there are more victims. We encourage anyone who is concerned about their dealings with Mr Ivil to contact the SFO."

Mr Ivil will next appear at the Tauranga District Court on 28 July.

ENDS

For further information

Andrea Linton
Serious Fraud Office
027 705 4550

Note to editors

Background to investigation

Complaints regarding Mr Ivil's affairs were made to the SFO in June 2014.

At various times, Mr Ivil has used the names Mark Irvine and Mark Urvine.

Crimes Act offences

Section 240 Obtaining by deception or causing loss by deception
(1) Every one is guilty of obtaining by deception or causing loss by deception who, by any deception and without claim of right,-
(a) obtains ownership or possession of, or control over, any property, or any privilege, service, pecuniary advantage, benefit, or valuable consideration, directly or indirectly; or
(b) in incurring any debt or liability, obtains credit; or
(c) induces or causes any other person to deliver over, execute, make, accept, endorse, destroy, or alter any document or thing capable of being used to derive a pecuniary advantage; or
(d) causes loss to any other person.

(2) In this section, deception means-
(a) a false representation, whether oral, documentary, or by conduct, where the person making the representation intends to deceive any other person and-
  (i) knows that it is false in a material particular; or
  (ii) is reckless as to whether it is false in a material particular; or
(b) an omission to disclose a material particular, with intent to deceive any person, in circumstances where there is a duty to disclose it; or
(c) a fraudulent device, trick, or stratagem used with intent to deceive any person.

Section 246 Receiving
(1) Every one is guilty of receiving who receives any property stolen or obtained by any other imprisonable offence, knowing that property to have been stolen or so obtained, or being reckless as to whether or not the property had been stolen or so obtained.

(2) For the purposes of this section, property that was obtained by any act committed outside New Zealand that, if it had been committed in New Zealand, would have constituted an imprisonable offence is, subject to subsection (5), to be regarded as having been obtained by an imprisonable offence.

(3) The act of receiving any property stolen or obtained by any other imprisonable offence is complete as soon as the offender has, either exclusively or jointly with the thief or any other person, possession of, or control over, the property or helps in concealing or disposing of the property.

(4) If-
(a) any property stolen or obtained by any other imprisonable offence has been returned to the owner; or
(b) legal title to any such property has been acquired by any person,-
a subsequent receiving of it is not an offence, even though the receiver may know that the property had previously been stolen or obtained by any other imprisonable offence.

(5) If a person is charged with an offence under this section and the property was obtained by an act committed outside New Zealand, it is to be presumed, unless the person charged puts the matter at issue, that the doing of the act by which the property was obtained was an offence under the law of the place where the act was done.

Section 257 Using forged documents
(1) Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years who, knowing a document to be forged,-
(a) uses the document to obtain any property, privilege, service, pecuniary advantage, benefit, or valuable consideration; or
(b) uses, deals with, or acts upon the document as if it were genuine; or
(c) causes any other person to use, deal with, or act upon it as if it were genuine.

(2) For the purposes of this section, a document made or altered outside New Zealand in a manner that would have amounted to forgery if the making or alteration had been done in New Zealand is to be regarded as a forged document.

Serious Fraud Office Act offences

Section 45 Offence to obstruct investigation, etc
Every person commits an offence, and is liable on conviction,-
(a) in the case of an individual, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a fine not exceeding $15,000:
(b) in the case of a corporation, to a fine not exceeding $40,000,-
who,-
(c) without lawful justification or excuse, resists, obstructs, or delays any member of the Serious Fraud Office in the exercise of any power conferred by section 9; or
(d) without lawful justification or excuse, refuses or fails to-
  (i) attend before the Director; or
  (ii) answer any question; or
  (iii) supply any information; or
  (iv) produce any document; or
  (v) provide any explanation; or
  (vi) comply with any other requirement,-
as required pursuant to the exercise of any power conferred by section 9; or
(e) in the course of complying with any requirement imposed pursuant to section 5 or section 9, gives an answer to any question, or supplies any information, or produces any document, or provides any explanation, knowing that it is false or misleading in a material particular or being reckless as to whether it is so false or misleading.

About the SFO

The SFO was established in 1990 under the Serious Fraud Office Act in response to the collapse of financial markets in New Zealand at that time.

The SFO's role is the detection, investigation and prosecution of serious or complex financial crime. The SFO's focus is on investigating and prosecuting criminal cases that will have a real effect on:

  • business and investor confidence in our financial markets and economy
  • public confidence in our justice system and public service
  • New Zealand's international business reputation.

The SFO operates three operational teams; the Evaluation and Intelligence team along with two investigative teams.

The SFO operates under two sets of investigative powers.

Part 1 of the SFO Act provides that it may act where the Director "has reason to suspect that an investigation into the affairs of any person may disclose serious or complex fraud."

Part 2 of the SFO Act provides the SFO with more extensive powers where: "...the Director has reasonable grounds to believe that an offence involving serious or complex fraud may have been committed..."

In considering whether a matter involves serious or complex fraud, the Director may, among other things, have regard to:

  • the suspected nature and consequences of the fraud and/or;
  • the suspected scale of the fraud and/or;
  • the legal, factual and evidential complexity of the matter and/or;
  • any relevant public interest considerations.


The SFO's Annual Report 2014 sets out its achievements for the past year, while the Statement of Intent 2014-2018 sets out the SFO's strategic goals and performance standards. Both are available online at www.sfo.govt.nz