Tall tales swirling about old conman

Convicted fraudster Wayne Eaglesome appears to be trying to sell land on Waiheke Island. Photo / Dean Purcell

Colourful conman and convicted fraudster Wayne Eaglesome, whose latest of more than two dozen aliases is "Alex Newman", appears to be trying to sell land on Waiheke that he doesn't yet own.

Eaglesome this week said the property offer - asking $350,000 for an almost-bare 928sq m section with a rateable value of $260,000 - was legitimate, and the reason he didn't yet own the land was because he was still going through the process of purchasing it from someone he had met in prison.

The property's owner could not be reached this week, but records show the land is subject to charging orders to recover outstanding legal aid bills.

Eaglesome said a lawyer and real estate agent were involved in his property dealings, but he declined direct requests to name either professional. "I'm allowed to buy and sell land, aren't I?" he said.

Last week the Weekend Herald revealed Eaglesome has been unusually made to serve the entirety of his three-year prison sentence by the Parole Board, whose reports concluded - based on psychiatric advice - that he was a narcissist and a "prolific high-risk confidence man".

These revelations sparked more than a dozen readers to share their dealings with Eaglesome over the last two months since he was released from prison on July 6.

Eaglesome attended several events at the recent Fashion Week where he was given front-row seats.

A woman who sat next to him at one fashion week show claimed Eaglesome had told her he had the right to import 10,000 cigars annually from Cuba as his grandfather, a surgeon, had once saved the life of Fidel Castro's wife.

Wayne Eaglesome poses with NZ Sevens captain Scott Curry (left) and former skipper DJ Forbes. Photo / Supplied

Another man said he now realises he first met Eaglesome, whom he knew as "Alex", only days after his release from prison. The man alleged that Eaglesome made a number of wild claims, including recounting a roller-coaster investment in a mobile application that closely mirrored the plot to TV series Silicon Valley.

"He also said he owned a sheep station in Mahia and considered himself a shepherd. He only came up to Auckland on the weekends," he said Eaglesome claimed.

Another man, who communicated with Eaglesome over several weeks, said there were claims he was worth $80 million after the sale of a mobile application to the US prison service.

He said Eaglesome recently visited with a gift of snapper, and claims he explained where he'd got it: "He brought this big fish around, and said he'd just been out fishing with a Saudi Arabian oil prince."

This week the offer of fish was allegedly followed with the offer of the Waiheke land deal, leading to the man coming forward to the Weekend Herald and urging people to exercise caution.

Several people claimed Eaglesome had told them he had spent this week overseas, in Tahiti or Britain.

Calls to his mobile phone this week weren't routed through international exchanges, but Eaglesome denied still being in Auckland.

"Where I am is of no concern to you or anyone else," he said.

He denied many of the tall tales recounted by witnesses.

"I have no idea about that," he said of his claimed connection to Fidel Castro.

Of fishing with Saudi princes, he said: "It wasn't a comment made by me, period."