Mark Hotchin's name is no longer on the title of the $30 million Paritai Drive house which has been a lightning rod for out-of-pocket investors.
The mansion has been seen as a monument to financial excess, but changes to the large piece of real estate's legal status in early spring indicated it might be sold soon.
Under his own name, Mr Hotchin bought three neighbouring Paritai Drive sections and amalgamated them for his vast family home, expected to have a finished value of about $30 million.
QV records showed all the titles merged into one new title with no sales history, a new address and new owner.
Instead of being tagged as being on Paritai Drive, the plots are all listed as 4 Huriaro Place, taking an address from the street behind.
Records, last updated on November 6, show the house and land are owned by a trustee - KA No 4 Trustee - which Companies Office records show traces back to Tony Thomas.
Mr Thomas said a few weeks ago that he was Mr Hotchin's accountant and denied any sale was pending. Legal experts said the changes gave a cleaner title, far easier to dispose of.
That's hardly surprising. People such as Hotchin are very adept at hiding their assets. How else could Hotchin and Eric Watson walked away from the collapse of Hanover with their personal wealth intact whilst the investors who made them wealthy are left with nowt? Lavish birthday parties, ski trips in Switzerland (Watson) and extended stays in Hawaii (with the personal trainer flown in - Hotchin) really rub it in to the mum-and-dad investors who swallowed Hanover's promises of riches.
If you think that we are contemptuous of Eric Watson and Mark Hotchin for their role in the Hanover collapse, you'd be dead right. We hope that the SFO is getting all its ducks in a row, and that justice can one day be done for those who put their faith in Hanover, and had the rug pulled out from underneath them.
7 comments:
It's very kind of the Com Com to play Santa Clasue with the legal proceedings!
Except the benefits will fatten the wallets of the grown-ups in the big firms and a clutch of QC's but not blokes like me who labor in the weeds.
I think however that most of mr Hotchkins assets are now out of jurisdiction and away from the Com Com's clutches.
These days the middle east is a good place to squirel away the goodies. And then there is Vanuatu, just a four hour flight away.
You're probably right Alex; the horse has already bolted. Full marks to the Securities Commission for at least having a go though.
I have to say that there's a part of me who's response is "Let's see you transfer the ownership of your kneecaps..."
All may not be lost.
The process of transferring the properties into a trust needed to have involved either cash at market value (unlikely but if true the lolly has long gone) or a loan-back arrangement.
Accordingly one of Hotchkin's assets will be a loan to the trust which may be able to be called up resulting in the sale of the property by the Trust to meet the debt.
It will be interesting to watch on a number of levels
David,
I'm pulling up the couch, the beer and the chips to watch the fun.
I2, agreed. The barn is largely empty.
White-collar crime can be as soul-destroying as any other...absolute shit-heads, I'd love to see them locked up.
But Steve O'Regan might be next on the block- Chair of the Audit Committee and approved the payout before everything went pear shape. His prize asset is a sailing boat somewhere in Marlborough Sounds. Paid for by the Crown when he sued a Maori Land Court Judge and won.
Steve has great faith in the law and litigation as a result. So much so that he persuaded Ngai Tahu to litigate on at least six separate cases; the Crown not interested. The result? Bob Mahuta, of Tainui slipped into see Doug Graham for a spot of the of the hard stuff and agreed $170ml thus setting the benchmark for future Maori settlements. NT- loss; their claim was bigger. An incompetent ass and a trophy Director- just like Doug Graham?
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