Aaron Drever at Auckland District Court on August 12, 2022. Photo / Michael Craig
A disgraced real estate agent and convicted fraudster faces fresh legal strife and possible jail time after pleading guilty to insolvency charges and impersonating a rich businessman while an undischarged bankrupt.
However, Aaron Carl Drever has avoided a charge of concealing the sale of his West Auckland house from the Official Assignee after admitting to other charges, which could see him avoid a custodial sentence.
Drever - who initially denied any wrongdoing and vowed to defend the charges at trial - was once one of the country’s most successful realty agents, making millions of dollars in commission.
But he was struck off after racking up a record 12 disciplinary findings and jailed in 2022 for more than two years for stealing $600,000 from Avondale Bowling Club and Auckland Speedway.
Drever was made bankrupt in 2019 following the collapse of his Grocer’s Market enterprise - after he tried to restart the failed Nosh supermarket brand - and found personally liable for almost half a million in debt.
An MBIE investigation commenced in 2021 relating to Drever’s links to Auckland fast-food chain The Fish and Chippery and the liquidation of rich Australia-based businessman Andrew Phillips’ company The Fish and Chip Co Ltd (FCCL) in May 2021.
MBIE’s Integrity and Enforcement Team (IET) filed six charges against Drever in June 2022 of breaching the Insolvency Act.
These included three charges of obtaining credit while an undischarged bankrupt, two of taking part in the management of a business, and one of failing to file a statement of affairs with the Official Assignee.
An additional and more serious charge of concealing property was later filed - carrying a maximum jail term of seven years - but has now been withdrawn.
The summary of facts says Drever was declared bankrupt after the Official Assignee was notified of claims against him totalling nearly $250,000.
Officials made numerous requests for Drever to provide a statement of financial affairs, but he failed to provide the information, meaning the Official Assignee was unable to properly administer his estate.
“As a result, no payments have been made to creditors.”
In 2022, Drever told the Herald he hadn’t breached bankruptcy obligations, stressing he was not a listed director or shareholder of the companies, and had only been an employee.
The allegations would be “successfully defended”, he said at the time.
However, he changed his pleas to guilty earlier this month and will now be sentenced in November.
The charges carry a maximum of two years’ imprisonment, but Drever hopes to avoid another stint in jail.
Court documents filed last year show Tegal Foods Ltd applied to have Drever declared bankrupt in August 2018.
In December that year, he commissioned a valuation of his Glendene home, which came in at $1.05m.
In February 2019, Drever sold the property for $1.05m to Hepburn Property Holdings Ltd, whose sole director and shareholder was Phillips.
The court documents say Phillips - who financed Drever to buy the Mt Eden grocery business after the Nosh Group’s 2017 receivership - then signed a document with Drever titled “Terms of a resolution” for the Glendene property’s sale.
The document allegedly said Drever owed Phillips $284,000 either personally or through Drever’s Marmalade Trust.
According to the document, $840,000 of the sale proceeds would be used to discharge the property’s mortgage and the remaining $210,000 to discharge Drever’s debt to Phillips.
In addition, Drever or his nominee would have first right to repurchase the property for $1.195m “anytime in the first 24 months from the settlement date”.
Marmalade Trust received $839,675.36 following settlement to discharge the mortgage, court documents say.
A further $2250.76 was allegedly transferred to a Fish & Chippery Glen Eden Ltd bank account. The company’s sole director was Drever’s then-girlfriend, Melissa Wymer-Tisdale.
In late 2022, MBIE charged Drever with concealing his interest in the Glendene property, meaning “the Official Assignee was unable to realise this asset for the benefit of creditors”. The charge was subsequently withdrawn.
Phillips was approached for comment but did not respond.
The summary of facts also says Drever took part in the management or control of two companies while an undischarged bankrupt, and impersonated Phillips during negotiations over a leased Onehunga store.
Following the collapse of Drever’s grocery enterprise, he began emailing Phillips with business proposals about forming companies to own and operate Auckland fish and chip stores, the summary says.
Phillips would be the “sole director and shareholder” of the company. Drever would manage the day-to-day operations on a “sweat equity” basis.
“Mr Phillips would then transfer all or part of his FCCL shares to Mr Drever once his bankruptcy was discharged.”
FCCL was incorporated in September 2020, with Drever allegedly signing off regular emails as the company’s “general manager”, the summary says.
Another company, FC Te Atatū Ltd (FCTA) was incorporated in 2019, with Wymer-Tisdale the sole director. A trustee company of Drever’s Marmalade trust was a minor shareholder.
FCTA was formed to help Drever secure a Te Atatū store’s lease, with Phillips loaning Drever money to facilitate the transaction, the summary says.
FCTA also purchased a fish and chip business in Birkenhead. Drever’s phone number was the purchaser’s listed contact. He and Phillips exchanged emails about the sale.
Meanwhile, in March 2020, a property manager visited a leased Onehunga store where she met a person calling himself “Andy Phillips”, who identified himself as the person responsible for the sublease and renovations.
Following negotiations with “Andy Phillips”, a lease reassignment was signed by Wymer-Tisdale, and witnessed by Drever, the summary says.
After receiving numerous invoices for unauthorised works, the property manager “discovered that ‘Andy Phillips’ was in fact Mr Drever”.
Drever was also charged with three counts of obtaining credit totalling nearly $30,000 after entering into contracts for digital signs.
The Herald earlier reported that Phillips liquidated his company after ploughing more than $100,000 into the business.
He told liquidators he thought he was buying three Fish and Chippery companies and claimed the deal had been arranged by Drever.
However, it later emerged the sale and purchase agreement was drawn up but never properly executed.
Liquidator Gareth Hoole earlier told the Herald up to 50% of takings he tracked appeared to have been spent on purposes other than company expenditure.
In a final liquidator’s report in December 2022, Hoole wrote: ‘It is the view of the liquidators that the company and its director were the victim of an elaborate scheme perpetrated by an individual who gained the confidence of the director of the company and took advantage of his good nature and generosity.
“At the time of preparation of this report that individual was incarcerated on fraud charges unrelated to this company.”
Just $16,000 in assets was realised during the liquidation. The company has now been removed.
Lane Nichols is deputy head of news and a senior journalist for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.
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