Trust victims lose out

John Cutten faces 34 charges of fraud. Photo / Bradley Ambrose

An Auckland man has appeared in court accused of swindling friends and family out of more than $900,000.

John David Cutten faces 34 fraud charges, some of which relate to the use of forged documents from the ANZ bank.

The 53-year-old also faces one charge of bribery, over allegations he told Auckland woman Barbara Charnley to drop complaints about him made to police and TV's Fair Go if she wanted her $91,000 investment back.

Court documents show Cutten is alleged to have fraudulently obtained the money from 18 people, including at least three family members, between September 2003 and October 2009.

He allegedly promised them a 50 per cent return if they invested their money through London-based International Managers Trust.

The Herald on Sunday could find no evidence of the trust.

Detective Troy Anderson of North Shore CIB said police received two complaints about Cutten, who is originally from Britain.

They initially laid 10 fraud charges but dropped nine. Further investigation led to another 33 fraud charges.

Cutten has yet to enter a plea and declined to comment.

His lawyer Jeremy Bioletti said police had laid a number of new charges since his client's last appearance.

He said Cutten would enter a guilty plea at the first opportunity.

He said his client would make every effort to return as much of the money as possible, and was doing everything possible to cooperate with police.

North Shore resident Roger Deeley, 72, is among Cutten's alleged victims.

He alleges he invested $10,000 with Cutten, whom he had known and trusted for about 15 years.

Deeley said he had planned to invest his money elsewhere, but Cutten told him the trust would provide a better return.

He said he put the money into an account set up by Cutten and "a few years" passed before he attempted to withdraw it.

"He [Cutten] wrote me a letter and said the money never went in. I should have had the equivalent of about £11,000 ($24,760)," he said.

Deeley said he felt "dumb" falling for the scheme.

He alleged Cutten said he would put together a syndicate with $1 million to qualify for the 50 per cent interest rate.

"To me that made it believable because millionaires can get a high interest rate. Now I'm retired and instead of a nest egg, I am living just on the breadline."

Meanwhile, Aucklander Charnley complained about Cutten to Fair Go last year.

According to the TVNZ website, she invested $91,000. She said Cutten gave her letters from ANZ National confirming the deposit of her money with Lloyds Bank in Britain.

ANZ National told the show they did not issue the letters.

In October, Charnley told Fair Go Cutten offered her $16,000 in $100 bills if she agreed to drop her complaints.

Cutten is due back at the North Shore District Court on February 25.

rebecca.lewis@hos.co.nz