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Millionaire Hawke's Bay businessman Blair Fitzsimons has confessed to fraud amounting to $3.5 million and says he will be going to jail.
In an interview with The Dominion Post today Mr Fitzsimons admitted that he forged documents and defrauded Pioneer Insurance, the company he managed until last month, out of millions of dollars, which he used to prop up his own financially struggling business.
He said he would tell the Serious Fraud Office, which was alerted to his fraud three weeks ago, that he is guilty and admitted "I'll be going to jail".
The SFO has yet to interview him.
Mr Fitzsimons and his wife Melanie, 35, who owns the upmarket Napier antique and fashion shop La Bella Rossa, stand to lose everything, including their $1.4 million mansion in Havelock North.
His ripped-off business partners may also lose their homes.
With a lavish lifestyle to support and the couple's company, Xpress Vehicle Rentals, owing $1.6 million to the Speirs Group and other money to GE Finance and other creditors, Mr Fitzsimons found the money by taking it from Pioneer, the newspaper reported.
A $500,000 cheque he wrote to Westpac Bank last month bounced, which was the start of the unravelling of his financial affairs.
The bank placed a claim on his and his wife's assets, including his businesses.
Mr Fitzsimons said he kept his wife in the dark about his stealing, not telling her until June 14.
Pioneer has been bailed out in a rescue package by the CU Group, a financial services firm backed by the New Zealand Association of Credit Unions.
Pioneer is now trading normally, but two of its founding shareholders John Gifford and Rob Elvidge have lost millions and could lose their homes.
"He's a thief, a liar and a cheat . . . a totally amoral crook," Mr Gifford said.
- NZPA
