{"id":4532,"date":"2025-09-05T20:54:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T20:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/4532\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T20:54:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T20:54:08","slug":"former-real-estate-agent-aaron-drever-faces-more-jail-time-for-breaching-insolvency-rules-while-bankrupt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/4532\/","title":{"rendered":"Former real estate agent Aaron Drever faces more jail time for breaching insolvency rules while bankrupt"},"content":{"rendered":"

But he lost his licence for misconduct before being jailed in 2022 for stealing more than $100,000 from Auckland Speedway<\/a> and pocketing nearly $500,000 in a cunning property deal involving Avondale Bowling Club land.<\/p>\n

In March this year, he was sent back to jail for 15 months<\/a> after admitting insolvency charges and impersonating a rich businessman.<\/p>\n

The charges related to Drever\u2019s dealings with an Auckland fast food company<\/a>. He was found to have breached his obligations as an undischarged bankrupt \u2013 insolvency restrictions linked to his failed Grocer\u2019s Market venture in 2019.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) filed fresh insolvency charges against Drever in December last year, the Herald can reveal.<\/p>\n

MBIE\u2019s Business Registries national manager, Bolen Ng, said that after Drever was declared bankrupt in 2019 following the Grocer\u2019s Market collapse, the Official Assignee wrote to Drever informing him of his obligations and responsibilities under the Insolvency Act.<\/p>\n

\"AaronAaron Drever appeared in the Auckland District Court in August 2022 for sentencing on fraud charges. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the obligations imposed on Mr Drever was to disclose information to the Official Assignee,\u201d Ng said. \u201cFailure to provide the information is considered to be wilfully misleading the Official Assignee, which is an offence under the act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the warning, Ng said, Drever then misled the Official Assignee by making a false statement, declaring that his only income was from a Work and Income benefit.<\/p>\n

He did not declare any employment and maintained this position when summonsed to appear before the Official Assignee.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stated under oath that he was on a benefit and not employed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen his employment status was queried by his insolvency officer, Mr Drever advised that he intended to do a training course and was not intended to be employed or undertake self-employment.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Ng said, Drever was actually working for a catering company and receiving regular income totalling nearly $50,000 between November 2023 and July 2024.<\/p>\n

After an investigation, Drever was charged with additional Insolvency Act breaches in December.<\/p>\n

In July this year, Drever accepted a sentencing indication of nine months\u2019 imprisonment, to be served cumulatively on top of his current sentence of 15 months, for breaching restrictions imposed on him as a bankrupt.<\/p>\n

He is set to be formally sentenced in the Auckland District Court next month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sentence imposed on Mr Drever signals the importance of complying with obligations imposed on individuals adjudicated bankrupt, and we hope this prosecution discourages would-be offenders who ignore insolvency rules,\u201d Ng said.<\/p>\n

\u2018I have recurring nightmares\u2019<\/p>\n

In May this year, Drever unsuccessfully appealed his 15-month prison sentence, arguing it should be commuted to home detention in recognition of a \u201csavage\u201d assault involving a meat hook<\/a> he suffered at the hands of another inmate in Northland\u2019s Ngawha Prison.<\/p>\n

His lawyer, Shannon Withers, said Drever suffered horrific facial injuries in the November 2022 attack, which occurred as he was preparing food in the prison kitchen.<\/p>\n

Withers said Drever was believed to have developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the incident and was fearful of suffering further violence after being sent back to jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe appellant describes the sentence and attack as life-altering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quoting Drever, Withers said: \u201cEven now, I have recurring nightmares. I wake up in a cold sweat, remembering the overwhelming sense of vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AaronAaron Drever arriving at Auckland District Court to face fraud charges in August 2022. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n

Withers said the experience Drever had suffered in prison \u201cis one that\u2019s going to have continuing effects on his mental health and wellbeing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sending him back to jail for the bankruptcy offending was \u201cdisproportionately severe\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Crown prosecutor Dennis Dow argued prison was the appropriate sentence for Drever\u2019s \u201ccalculated\u201d and \u201ccynical\u201d offending, which caused significant harm and occurred while he was on bail for other crimes.<\/p>\n

He noted Drever was in segregation.<\/p>\n

Judge David Johnstone threw out the appeal, saying Drever\u2019s offending showed his \u201cdisregard of the constraints he was under as a bankrupt, and his unwillingness to accept accountability for harm done to others\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lane Nichols is Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years\u2019 experience in the industry.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But he lost his licence for misconduct before being jailed in 2022 for stealing more than $100,000 from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6117,74,6116,6127,6124,6133,6128,4057,4378,6120,5767,6129,6131,6125,6118,638,6119,6130,2082,2740,6126,6132,6121,1334,130,111,43,139,69,6134,6115,6122,2044,6123],"class_list":["post-4532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-aaron","tag-after","tag-agent","tag-already","tag-bankrupt","tag-bankruptcy","tag-bars","tag-behind","tag-breach","tag-breaching","tag-convicted","tag-crimes","tag-declare","tag-disgraced","tag-drever","tag-estate","tag-faces","tag-failing","tag-for","tag-former","tag-fraudster","tag-income","tag-insolvency","tag-jail","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-obligations","tag-real","tag-rules","tag-time","tag-while"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}