Former Blue Chip boss Mark Bryers jailed in Australia

Kiwi fraudster and former Blue Chip boss Mark Bryers has been jailed in Australia.

Bryers, construction boss George Alex, Lindsay Kirschberg, Pasquale Loccisano, and Gordon McAndrew were found guilty of conspiracy to cause loss and conspiring to deal in the proceeds of crime, Australian media reported.

Bryers was sentenced earlier this month to eight-and-a-half years in jail, with a non-parole period of six years.

In 2020, bugged phone calls and conversations revealed how Bryers became entangled in an alleged tax fraud and money laundering syndicate.

Mark Bryers pictured leaving the Auckland District Court in 2010. Photo / Herald on Sunday, File

He was arrested by a task force investigating an Australian organised criminal group and tax fraud, allegedly being directed by Alex, the underworld-connected construction boss.

A dozen people were arrested during Gold Coast and Sydney raids that year by the Australian Federal Police.

But Bryers was well-known to New Zealand authorities and investors years earlier.

The Herald on Sunday previously reported on the Blue Chip collapse, its victims, and some of Mark Bryers' self-indulgent spending. Image / NZME

The Blue Chip finance empire collapsed in 2008 owing at least 3000 Kiwi investors about $80million.

In 2009 he was adjudged bankrupt in New Zealand with individual debt obligations of $230m.

At Blue Chip’s peak, Bryers’estimated personal wealth was listed at $70m on the NBR Rich List.

During this time he was a frequent visitor to an Auckland brothel, sometimes spending thousands of dollars to block-book the venue and its women.