Former finance broker jailed

Former Tauranga finance broker Andrew Graham Tilson, 38, was jailed yesterday for 18 months after earlier pleading guilty to four counts of forgery, two counts of uttering and a charge of using an altered document.

His sentencing, in the Hamilton District Court, was the final chapter in Operation Allsorts, one of New Zealand's biggest fraud investigations.

The Waikato Times reported Tilson's guilty pleas came after he was extradited from the United Kingdom last year for his role in the Operation Allsorts scam - a complicated series of property and loans frauds, involving lawyers, accountants and finance brokers, which left about 50 victims out of pocket to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars and some victims without their homes.

A six-year police investigation netted more than 20 convictions.

Judge Robert Spear said it was difficult to assess where Tilson's culpability lay in relation to the other convicted fraudsters, but it was clear he was a willing participant.

His conviction related to four fraudulent transactions carried out over a seven-month period between 2001 and 2002.

- NZPA