Brother against brother for $2m

Rod Nielsen. Photo / Herald file

Leaky-building property developer Greg Nielsen is on the verge of bankrupting his brother and former business partner Rod over a $2 million debt.

The Nielsen brothers became known in the early 2000s for substandard and incomplete terraced housing developments.

In December, the High Court ordered Greg Nielsen to pay $1.2 million in compensation for building leaky townhouses at 3 Laxon Terrace in Newmarket.

Relations between the brothers have soured, and their legal wrangling culminated in a bankruptcy hearing in the High Court at Auckland yesterday.

Justice Hugh Williams has reserved his decision, meaning he will decide shortly whether Rod Nielsen should be bankrupted.

Greg Nielsen says his brother owes him $2 million after a 2005 deal that was supposed to settle all disputes between them.

Rod agreed to buy Greg's half share in a Queenstown development called the Esplanade for $1.8 million, and to pay him $2000 a week in consultancy fees.

Greg would resign as a director of all companies in the Nielsen Group.

The $1.8 million was not paid by the November 2006 deadline, and the consultancy fees ceased in March 2007.

In August last year the High Court ordered Rod to pay Greg the $1.8 million and $138,000 consultancy fees.

Meanwhile, a building supplies firm called Dysart Timbers had applied to have Rod Nielsen bankrupted over a $260,000 debt from 1995.

That debt has been the subject of several court hearings, and in October Rod was given leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Greg was a creditor in support of that bankruptcy application, but is now seeking to have his brother adjudged bankrupt on the grounds that he has fled the country to escape his creditors.

Rod Nielsen moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, in early 2007.

Greg Nielsen's lawyer, Edward Grove, told the court there was "no credible basis" to Rod's claim that he planned to return to New Zealand late this year.

Emails to his brother indicated he had no intention of paying the debt.

"... You can hiss and roar all you like but I'll use all my resources to fight you off," he wrote.

" ... I have a number of avenues available to me to cause you considerable pain ... I will not hesitate to finish you off next time."

Mr Grove said Rod Nielsen had also written that moves to bankrupt him were "propelled by hatred, vengeance and an ulterior motive, and are therefore pointless".

Rod Nielsen had said his financial situation was "dire" and he had delayed and procrastinated at every turn, including insisting on being served documents in Las Vegas.