Jail term for Australian conman who fleeced $500,000 out of Christchurch man in vending machine scam

Australian vending machine conman Daniel Kive Albert who swindled $500,000 out of a Christchurch man has been sentenced at Christchurch District Court.

A Sydney conman who fleeced $500,000 out of a Christchurch man in a vending machine scam has today been jailed for 15 months and will face deportation on his release.

Daniel Kive Albert, 50, an Australian national also known as Daniel Erefor, Daniel Allert, and Tony Lynch, had been banned from managing corporations in Australia for three years after dodgy franchising schemes folded owing A$2.4 million ($2.5m) , when he came to New Zealand in 2007.

Under a false identity, he set up Laqu-Vending Ltd and advertised "exclusive rights" to energy drink vending machines in the South Island.

A Christchurch man looking for a business opportunity to run in his retirement got in touch.

He paid $333,000 for 17 vending machines, described by Albert as being the "Rolls Royce of vending machines", with remote internet monitoring and 648-can capacity.

However, when the machines arrived in February 2008 - and Albert changed the company name to Specialised Vending - the machines were in fact standard budget beverage vendor machines.

And Albert didn't have the exclusive rights.

The victim managed to sell the machines at a $30,000 loss.

Albert then offered to sell him a further 30 machines at a discounted "wholesale rate" of $200,000.

The victim then became "uneasy" about the relationship after discovering that Albert had been using an alias, and that machines Albert claimed were at a Christchurch depot were not.

Albert then broke off communication and later in 2008 returned to Australia. Specialised Vending was struck off the Companies Office register in July 2009.

Today, Christchurch District Court heard that after losing $200,000, the victim had to refinance his home.

Albert was stopped at Auckland International Airport in December last year while on a weekend break in New Zealand.

He was then charged with the vending machine fraud spanning September 2007 and August 2008. He pleaded guilty earlier this year.

Albert appeared for sentencing via audio visual link at Christchurch District court today.

Defence counsel Fletcher Pilditch said Albert "never intended to deceive to benefit himself and offer nothing in return".

There was a grey area, Pilditch argued, between matters categorised as criminal deception and "puffery, advertising, salespersonship and the like".

"People who sell things will obviously paint the most optimistic picture," the lawyer said.

"It was not that he offered and gave nothing."

However, the Crown argued that this was not a case of over promising and under delivering.

"It was deceptive conduct from the outset," prosecutor Claire Boshier said.

Judge Jane Farish accepted that although Albert's conduct was deceptive, she noted that he did in fact supply goods and services - albeit nowhere near the quality that he claimed.

"It was more than puffery and more than just an overselling of a product," the judge said, adding that the effects on the victim were significant and long term.

In jailing him for 15 months, Judge Farish warned Albert that if he wanted to conduct business in New Zealand or anywhere else in the world, he needed to "come to the table with clean hands."

"Hiding behind aliases in a gilded cage is not going to assist you," she said.

No order for reparation was made.