The Bryers documents the court didn't see

Bryers makes his way to the Auckland High Court, for a court hearing to be discharged from bankruptcy. Photo / Brett Phibbs.

In the Auckland High Court this month, Mark Bryers named four companies as part of his attempt to portray himself as a consultant for hire rather than a manager or director of an Australian company with some Blue Chip hallmarks.

He was forbidden from managing or directing a company under his bankruptcy conditions and he had asked the court to release him from bankruptcy.

At Bryers' request, the court made an interim order suppressing the names of the companies he cited. He was given 10 days in which to file submissions if he sought permanent suppression. The deadline passed last week and the court has confirmed it has not heard from Bryers.

The Herald can report that at least two of the four companies Bryers named are part of the Talos group.

Several documents obtained by the Herald that were not seen by the court indicate that Bryers may have had control of the company and is a shareholder.

Maidenhall Investments and Australian Technologies Corporation are listed on Talos documents as related companies. The other two companies named by Bryers were not found in a search (using the court's spelling) of the ASIC database of registered companies.

A Talos staff member is listed as director and shareholder of Maidenhall and its listed place of business is the same small offices occupied until recently by Talos.

The same applies to Forsite Marketing Ltd, the entity Bryers claims his consultancy services are offered via. The listed shareholder of that company tracks to Stephen Lacy who is listed as sole shareholder and director of a range of Talos companies.

Lacy was the elephant in the courtroom at the hearing of Bryers' application to be released from bankruptcy. Bryers didn't call Mr Lacy to give evidence even though he is described on Talos company documents as sole director and shareholder, and in court as its key decisonmaker.

Read more on Bryers here:

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Two longstanding Australian associates of Bryers - Robert Hughes and Laurie Eakin - flew from Australia to vouch for Bryers.

Bryers had close business links with both men prior to Blue Chip's collapse in 2011. Shortly before his bankruptcy, Bryers transferred three companies to Hughes who was also involved with Bryers in a Queensland property investment deal in 2010 that proved a disaster for the couple Bryers was advising.

Both Hughes and Eakin told the court they considered Bryers to be a consultant employed by Forsite. Bryers was answerable to Lacy, the court was told.

Associate Judge Jeremy Doogue came to the conclusion that Bryers was a key decision maker based on a series of Talos documents, including a staff list describing him as "general manager"and emails implying he was in charge of senior staff and key decisons.

The judge said that Bryers used the alias Mark Ryan "to deceive people dealing with him in his role at Talos as to [his business history]", and that "Talos and Bryers adopted measures which were designed to portray Bryers as having a less than direct activity in the affairs of Talos than he actually did."

One document not before the court but obtained by the Herald records a payment to Bryers for one company in the Talos group as "shareholders wages" .

Another - Lacy's consultancy contract with Talos Services Pty Ltd, signed by Eakins and Lacy - records that Lacy is to report to "Mark Ryan of the company".

When asked by the Herald for this article why his consultancy agreement with Talos set out that he reports to "Mark Ryan", Lacy said he had no comment and hung up.

Eakins was executive director of Northern Crest Investments, formerly Blue Chip Financial Solutions. Lawyers acting for the liquidators raided Northern Crest's Sydney offices in 2011 after failing to get the company's cooperation only to find computer hard-drives missing and bins of shredded documents awaiting removal.

Bryers was the central figure in the Blue Chip group where some 2000 investors were left $84 million out of pocket.

Lacy is understood to have signed multi-million dollar personal guarantees associated with the Talos business.

Two people formally associated with Talos have provided the Herald with sworn affidavits claiming that Bryers told them that he owns 51 per cent of Talos, with the shares held for him by other entitities.

In his decision this month, Justice Doogue concluded that there were "unsatisfactory aspects" to the evidence given by Bryers and his supporting witnesses, that Bryers was involved in the management of Talos, that he used an assumed name and employment structure to disguise his past and true involvement in Talos, that he lacked insight into his past failings and that he was an ongoing risk to investors in New Zealand.

The judge released Bryers from bankruptcy but banned him from managing a business in this country for the next seven years, the second longest ban approved by the court.

Bryers wished to be discharged from bankruptcy so he could play an active part in businesses in Australia, the judge said. Whether that was desirable "from the perspective of the Australian public" was a question for authorities in Australia.

Lacy's consultancy contract with Talos Services:

Bryers makes decision:

Bryers authorises Talos payments:

Bryers signs lease agreement as manager of Talos:

Spreadsheet showing Bryers paid "shareholders wages":