Miles McKelvy: Conman to be released on bail while awaiting extradition

Miles McKelvy outside court during a 2001 mortgage scam trial. Photo / Derek Flynn

Infamous conman Miles John McKelvy has been granted bail while he waits to see whether he will be sent back to American soil.

McKelvy's conditions of bail include not obtaining any travelling documents and regularly contacting police until his electronic device arrives and he can be put on electronically monitored bail.

This afternoon McKelvy appeared via audiovisual link in front of Judge David Sharp at the Auckland District Court.

Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield spoke on behalf of McKelvy and was present in court.

The hearing comes after the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) applied to have the infamous conman sent back to America.

McKelvy allegedly conspired to import cocaine together with two other New Zealanders, a meth cook and a patched Hells Angels gang member.

The 64-year-old was arrested in Auckland in November 2020, not long after the DEA arrested two others who were also allegedly involved - patched Hells Angel member Marc Patrick Johnson and meth cook Michael Murray Matthews, in Romania.

After his arrest in New Zealand, the DEA had 45 days to formally request his extradition, after which he was to be set free.

A two day judge-alone trial to determine whether he will be extradited is set to start on August 22.

If the extradition application is successful McKelvy will stand trial on drug charges in the US and not New Zealand.

McKelvy's notoriety emerged from his role in scams including a sophisticated mortgage racket targeting vulnerable home buyers in the early 2000s.

McKelvy has previously been jailed for smuggling the party drug Fantasy into New Zealand in 2014 and 2015, disguising the Class B substance as a cleaning product for the environmental company he was working at.

His fraudulent crimes have previously been described by a judge as "predatory", "insidious", "recidivist" and "amoral".

This afternoon, his wife and son were present in court. Counsel for the United States was also online via an audiovisual link.

McKelvy will next appear in court on August 22.