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A self-proclaimed millionaire motivational guru whose Ferrari sportscar was repossessed in New Zealand is now promoting himself as a "mind nutrition expert" in interviews with Middle Eastern media.
Kevin Abdulrahman is pictured sitting on the bonnet of the Ferrari 360 Modena on his website, which describes the 28-year-old as an "an icon, an international author, an entrepreneur, a generous contributor, a fearless leader, a dreamer".
The Weekend Herald revealed in March that despite the public show of wealth, Badar Ltd, of which Mr Abdulrahman was the sole director and shareholder, bought the Ferrari with a loan from GE Finance.
The $390,000 supercar was repossessed, then sold at auction for a bargain $105,000.
Now Mr Abdulrahman has moved to Dubai, where he has rebranded himself as a "mind nutrition expert", giving interviews to local media and being promoted as a keynote conference speaker. Last month, he shared the stage with captains of industry in a United Arab Emirates Government-sponsored conference.
Mr Abdulrahman was quoted as saying: "To achieve modern government transformation, leadership from within is required, along with having a vision, a sense of direction, a vision and an action plan."
He is also quoted extensively in articles published in the Khaleej Times and Emirates Business newspapers and has been interviewed on Dubai radio.
In the media coverage, Mr Abdulrahman is referred to as an international author and influential speaker, costing $5000 an hour.
The Weekend Herald has notified the Dubai media and Datamatix, who organised the conference, about Mr Abdulrahman's New Zealand past. The UAE Embassy was also alerted.
In June last year, Mr Abdulrahman promised to give the Ferrari away to "one lucky" reader of his book, Winning the Game of Life. He even participated with Paul Henry in a publicity stunt on TVNZ's Breakfast show.
But no one knew the Ferrari had been bought with borrowed money.
Mr Abdulrahman charted his own rags-to-riches story in the Sunday News: Just five years ago he was "flipping burgers" at the McDonald's restaurant in Belmont, North Shore, and finally retired from property development at age 25.
But the Weekend Herald discovered Mr Abdulrahman was involved in Usana Health Services, an American nutritional supplements company. More than 11,000 New Zealand Usana distributors buy the products and earn commissions by selling them and convincing others to become distributors.
He quickly rose to the rank of "emerald director" at Usana Health Services and would speak at Usana conferences held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Auckland, according to advertisements.
While he was unable to be contacted for comment, his motivational advice remains on his website: "Keep pushing the success train and don't let the cowboys slow you down."
