Conman Wayne Eaglesome speaks on his life of crime and faking his death

Prolific conman Wayne Eaglesome pictured in Spain.

He’s one of the country’s most infamous conmen, with more than 250 convictions to his name and dozens of aliases. Wayne Eaglesome, a man accustomed to blurring the line between fact and fiction, spoke to Herald senior crime reporter Sam Sherwood about his life of crime. But after the interview, things took an unexpectedly personal turn.

There was the super-yacht-owning Harvard graduate and multimillionaire, the confidant to Saudi princes, a World Bank tax analyst and a long-standing member of the New York State Bar Association.

This is no elite-of-elite round table dinner - it’s just a few of the stories contrived by serial conman Wayne Eaglesome to go with the many aliases such as George Von Rothschild, Father Antony Garibaldi, Dr Angus Harrow, Alex Newman, Bernhardt Bentinck, Alex Bergen, Bernhardt Augustus Longwater, Barnaby Gordon, Richard Mountjoy, Alex Bauer and Ari Ben Yitzhak.

In a rare interview with the Herald, the conman himself was asked about his aliases, believed to number in their 40s.

“I think you’ll find that it’s a bit more than 40 now,” he said, revealing he comes up with the names with the aid of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Asked how many he replied: “I don’t know, I dare not hazard a guess.”

‘I have certainly made some mistakes’

Eaglesome has not been in New Zealand since he fled in 2021 while facing charges of breaching his release conditions after he was released from prison following a two-year sentence for managing a company while prohibited and making a false statement.

Since he left the country, the Herald has been approached by several tourists travelling in Spain who encountered the larger-than-life fraudster allegedly offering men large amounts of money for sex.

The tourists told the Herald Eaglesome, who was going by the name Alex, purported to be from London and was working for global investment giant BlackRock.

He boasted to the group about his purported friendship with the royal family, mentioning his father’s title as Earl of Mt Edgecumbe, bestowed for his grandfather’s service to the King.

He also claimed his salary was £900,000 ($1.9m) with £1.9m in stocks.

Eaglesome initially did not respond to requests for comment, but after an article was published, he told the Herald he was coming back to New Zealand in November. He also rejected allegations he offered money to men for sex.

“I never offered anyone any money; question was asked by somebody else if they would have sex with a man for money and I simply encouraged the conversation.

“I never offered anyone anything.”

Two days later Eaglesome contacted the Herald again using another number on WhatsApp to say he wanted to give an update on his travels, saying he would arrive at the end of November.

“I’m going to spend my holiday as a free man in more than Africa and then I will fly to Laos for a few days and then to New Zealand.

“The weather here in Cape Town is very nice and I’m quite enjoying myself actually.”

The Herald asked for an interview with Eaglesome. He said he would “consider” answering five questions “and no more”.

Convicted fraudster Wayne Eaglesome pictured in 2015. Photo / Dean Purcell

In relation to his return to New Zealand, the conman said he was coming back because he believed he could “defeat the matters that are outstanding”.

“I have recordings of my conversations with my parole officer that will vindicate me. In that regard, I have no concerns.

“I will probably need to spend time awaiting a formal hearing. However, I am confident, as is my new lawyer, that with the evidence that I have, including those recordings, the matter will be adjudicated in my favour.”

He said he would not answer the other questions from the Herald as “I don’t think they have any value”.

Asked whether he had any regrets, he said that was “a personal matter”.

“Whilst I have many, they are not something I am interested in sharing with you.

“I have certainly made some mistakes and I regret many of those.”

However, one decision he claimed to have made, was his “early investment” in cryptocurrency.

“When I left just over two years ago, I had 34 bitcoin and approximately 600 pieces of ETH (Ethereum).

“Now I have about 82.3 BTC and approximately 328 ETH.”

One bitcoin is currently worth $74,000 and one ETH is worth $4,000.

The investment had given him a “rather comfortable existence”, he said.

Eaglesome was unconcerned about the news reports of his times overseas, adding the Spanish police wouldn’t do anything because he had not committed any crime.

He said he would not be back in the country for long.

“Only long enough to see those matters dealt with and that’s it, there’s no need for me to stay any longer.”

Eaglesome acknowledged he was unsure how many aliases he’d used over the years, but pointed out that, by law, he could change his name to anything he chooses.

“If I make a name change by means of statutory declaration then that becomes my legal name.”

The Herald asked why he had apparently claimed to work for BlackRock, have links to the royal family and own a number of hostels.

“In relation to the royal family and hostels your sources have exaggerated what I said,” Eaglesome said.

“As to BlackRock, the only thing that connected me to that noble institution was that I happened to be wearing a black rock T-shirt from pride month in London and assumptions were made by those around me. Not my job to correct those assumptions.”

Wayne Eaglesome says the Herald's sources were exaggerating about him. Photo / Supplied

He then shared a “short story” he thought was “enlightening” in relation to an encounter he had while at a cafe in Ponsonby after his release from prison.

He said he was sitting at a table when a man approached and asked if he could sit.

“We had a pleasant conversation, it turned out that he was a local architect and we spoke about a number of issues but nothing that required me to divulge anything about myself.”

The man then asked Eaglesome what he did and where he had been the last few years.

“We had spoken about travel and, of course, I’ve been to a few places and I speak a few languages so he was interested to know where I had been and what I had been doing for work.

“I’ve then told him the truth, I told him that I had been in prison.”

He claimed the man got “rather upset”, and said, “if you can’t tell me the truth just don’t tell me anything at all”.

“I asked if I could use his MacBook and I showed him that I had been truthful.

“This has happened a number of times and often when I am brutally honest there is a total disbelief and sometimes that disbelief is accompanied by anger or a belief that I am just spinning a yarn.”

Eaglesome then granted the Herald one more question, which was how he comes up with the aliases and whether he gets any thrill out of it.

“I get no thrill out of any of it; by and large my life is rather boring and I appreciate the boring nature of my life. I don’t come up with the names I normally refer to the Encyclopaedia Britannica for the names.”

He then sent the Herald several photos of his travels, claiming to have been mountain climbing in Argentina, attending a rave in Sydney, and also visiting Beijing.

“That’s the end of it, I’m going to block you, this number, now,” he wrote.

“And all requests from unknown numbers will be automatically blocked as well.”

Four days later, he sent a news clip about an earthquake in Morocco that killed nearly 3000 people.

“You’ll see that I slept on the streets last night; not a pretty sight at the moment here in Morocco.”

Asked how the Herald was supposed to believe it was him in the video, he replied: “You have already seen photos of me recently so I’m fully certain that you’ll be able to ascertain if it’s me or not. However, I’m no longer in Morocco; I’m now much further south.”

An unexpected turn

The Herald reached out to Eaglesome again a few weeks later to get an update on his travels.

Days later, the Herald received an email from a man named Luke in Germany.

Luke, who asked that his last name not be published, claimed he met Eaglesome in Germany in September last year - he “seemed like a very nice person” and spoke with a “high-class English accent”.

Luke said Eaglesome told him his name was Alexander, that he worked in the digital currency division at BlackRock and offered him 1000 Adidas crypto coins for €4000 ($7000) which he would then sell to a client.

Luke was only able to transfer a maximum of €2000 ($3500) from his savings account into another account, so he paid the money in cash.

“I fully trusted him and I even told him how devastated I would be if anything happened to the money.”

Eaglesome then told him that if he was to transfer the money back, Luke would need to pay 46 per cent tax, or he could place the funds into a managed account on his behalf which Eaglesome would administer.

“We will, of course, create an access point for you so that you are able to see how your money is being invested and at some point you will withdraw your investment after 91 days and then you won’t be obligated to pay any tax,” a message sent by Eaglesome read.

Luke began to feel “uncomfortable” with how long the process was taking and asked to have the money/crypto sent to him and he would pay the taxes.

Eaglesome then sent a message saying he was having “severe chest pain”, and his mother had told him to see a doctor.

Luke asked what the doctor said, only for a message to come back saying: “My son is still in the hospital, they are doing some checks”.

Then came some distressing news - Eaglesome had died.

“The death of Alex will not impact your investments and I have spoken with my mother. We have instructed our lawyers in London to transfer to you £35,000 ($71,600). Unfortunately, the investment program would have required some documents to be signed by him but given his death you will receive a payment of £35,000 directly from his estate.”

The payment would be actioned “as soon as possible,” but the family were preparing to bury “Alexander” over the next few days.

“We understand that you had a friendship with my brother and that his death may have some small impact on you. If you wish to honour the death of my brother perhaps you might consider contacting your family and friends and telling them how much you love them.

“My name is Peregrine and I will be in contact with you over the next two weeks about your £35,000 and again I thank you for your friendship with my brother. Alexander was a bright soul who sought to improve the lives of as many people as he could. As a sign of this, Alexander left the entirety of his estate to charities having already taken care of his children.”

Alexander’s loss had hit the family hard, he said, “however we know that he was loved and he loved many people”.

Luke told Peregrine he was “shocked”. Peregrine told Luke his brother had mentioned him in his diary, and he would receive the money. The money never came.

Luke ended up finding another number for Eaglesome and said he wanted his money back.

Eaglesome replied that he would pay it that day.

“I have made some mistakes in my life and I regret many of them including the one involving you; there are some mistakes that I was accused of. Being accused hardened my heart against people and as a result I have done things that I regret.”

The Herald contacted Eaglesome on a number he was using to message Luke.

“I imagine you’ll be aware of the good news that I have applied to change my name to Samuel Sherwood,” he initially said.

He said he was now in Pai, Thailand.

“My intention was to be back by now but unfortunately my passport expired so when I booked my tickets I didn’t realise, so I’ve had to get a new passport.”

Asked about faking his death, Eaglesome said: “What I would say is that one identity died, allowing space for the birth of a new identity”.

He said he had not received money from anyone called Luke.

“I have tried every other possible name so I thought why not try the name of the person who writes more about me than anyone else,” he said when asked why he was changing his name.

He did not say when he was coming back to New Zealand and finished the conversation by saying “Merry Christmas and a happy New Year”.

‘An inveterate fraud’

The Herald was granted access to Eaglesome’s conviction history, which shows the 48-year-old has more than 250 convictions in New Zealand under seven different names.

His first conviction was as a 17-year-old in 1993 in Christchurch for fraud-related offending. He has since been sentenced in courts across the country including Nelson, Invercargill, Auckland, Taupō, and Tauranga.

In 2003, Eaglesome was pulled over in a taxi near Kaikōura wearing the robes of a priest and carrying a stolen credit card.

In 2006 he was jailed for five years after sexually violating and indecently assaulting an 18-year-old backpacker and indecently assaulting another youth.

Shortly before he was last sentenced, Eaglesome tried to change his name to Barnaby Gordon.

In the Christchurch District Court Judge Tom Gilbert said the constant name changes had helped him to continue to offend over the years.

Eaglesome, then going by Alex Bergen, tried to have his name suppressed but was rejected.

“You, Mr Bergen, are an inveterate fraud,” Judge Gilbert said, adding that he “lives the life of a conman”.

His observations mirror previous parole reports that have detailed him as a narcissist and “prolific high-risk confidence man”.

Judge Gilbert said Eaglesome had five relevant convictions from the United States as well.

“The only sustained periods when you have not offended, as an adult at least, it seems to me have been when you have been in custody. Your default position when in the community appears to be dishonesty.”

Only time will tell if Eaglesome is able to keep out of court, or whether he will come up with another alias from the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Sam Sherwood is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers crime. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2022, and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.