The Star: November 23, 2023

The Star Thursday November 23 2023
12
COURT
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
US fraudster back in court
• By Emily Moorhouse
A WOMAN who bought a
luxury yacht that was later seized
due to money owed on it has
described the man who sold it to
her as “the most unpleasant and
deceitful person I’ve ever come
across”.
Colin David Rath, a former
New York property developer
who sailed to New Zealand on
his yacht and was jailed for committing
tax fraud to the tune of
$1.3 million, was back in court
for deceiving a woman into buying
his yacht which left her thousands
of dollars out of pocket.
The 60-year-old appeared in
district court yesterday where
a cumulative sentence of nine
months was added to the prison
sentence he is currently serving
for his latest offending.
Rath was jailed in March this
year for three years and seven
months on 39 charges, including
using a document for a pecuniary
advantage relating to GST
returns and forgery relating to
the Inland Revenue Department
and Immigration New Zealand.
Yesterday, Rath appeared for
three new charges relating to
the sale of his yacht, which was
subject to an encumbrance, and
had a significant amount of debt
owed. Rath had forged documents
to hide the debt and sold
the yacht to a woman who was
passionate about sailing.
Rath pleaded guilty to these
charges in August while he was
serving his prison sentence imposed
in March this year.
The woman who purchased
the yacht read her victim impact
statement to the court, stating
she intended to sail to Australia
to see her children, unaware of
the significant amount of money
Rath owed in relation to the
vessel.
Shortly after purchasing it, the
yacht was seized.
The woman suffered a significant
financial loss of $202,000
from having to purchase the
yacht a second time after it was
seized as well as having to cover
YACHT: Colin Rath was back in court on more fraud charges after being jailed earlier this
year for committing tax fraud to the tune of $1.3 million.
huge costs to get it up to international
sailing standards.
She said Rath had manipulated
her and she said it was “staggering”
how he had fooled so many
people with his fraud, out of his
“pure greed and selfishness”.
“He is the most unpleasant and
deceitful person I’ve ever come
across,” she said.
“I am stunned as to how a
person like this was allowed into
New Zealand.”
The woman said the emotional
toll Rath’s offending had caused
on her and her family “almost
destroyed me” and she hasn’t
seen a cent of the money owed to
her by Rath.
She said throughout the whole
process Rath had shown no
remorse at all and went to great
lengths to cover his tracks for his
own greed.
Rath was charged on February
4, 2019 for using a US Coast
Guard Deletion Notice that he
knew was forged to obtain a
pecuniary advantage.
He was further charged on December
4, 2018, for using another
document he knew was forged –
a satisfaction of mortgage – for a
pecuniary advantage.
The third charge was that
between December 1, 2015, and
December 10, 2018, at Christchurch
by deception and without
claim of right he obtained ownership
of a pecuniary advantage,
namely $380,000.
Crown prosecutor John Whitcombe
said there was a great deal
of premeditation involved in the
offending that left the woman
with a huge financial burden and
having to deal with Rath’s mess.
Whitcombe described Rath as
a “professional fraudster and had
little regard for other people,”
stating the $400,000 that the
woman had paid Rath for the
yacht was only part of the cost
she had to endure.
Whitcombe said Rath should
not receive full credit for his
early guilty pleas, as the evidence
against him on these charges was
“overwhelming”.
He said the previous judge
was generous with the credit he
received during his sentencing
in March and as Rath had shown
no remorse, he should not be
entitled to credit for that or
previous good character as the
offending was prolonged.
Rath’s lawyer Craig Ruane
said as Rath has no assets it was
“impracticable” for an order
of reparation to be made and
it was likely that he would get
deported back to the US once he
is released from prison.
He said Rath needed to sell
his yacht but as time went on, he
found himself in more financial
trouble and hoped to find his
way out but “the walls came
tumbling down before he could
do so”.
Ruane said if Rath was facing
these charges when he was
sentenced back in March, it was
likely the judge would have applied
an uplift and asked Judge
Michelle Duggan to do the same.
He pushed for a starting point
of four to six months for the new
offending.
However, Judge Duggan wasn’t
convinced and took a starting
point of 12 months, stating
the offending was highly premeditated
as there were multiple
conversations about the sale of
his yacht and several documents
that he signed, knowing they
were forged.
This report was produced by Open
Justice – Te Pātītī, a Public
Interest Journalism initiative
funded by NZ on Air
She said his willingness to
participate in a restorative justice
meeting with the woman was
not enough to warrant credit for
remorse, stating it was her view
that Rath showed no genuine
remorse.
She allowed Rath a 20 per cent
credit for his guilty plea as well
as five per cent for his previous
good character, resulting in a
sentence of nine months imprisonment.
Judge Duggan said this was a
cumulative sentence to be served
on the three years and seven
months sentence he is currently
serving. She also made an emotional
harm payment order of
$5000 to go towards the woman
when Rath started earning an
income after his release.
Rath sailed to New Zealand on
a luxury yacht with his family in
2016.
The following year, he started
a winery business in the Waipara
wine-growing region in North
Canterbury.
However, his businesses,
Waipara Winds Ltd which traded
as Fiddler’s Green restaurant
and vineyard, and New York
Grape Escape Ltd, struggled.
Over a four-year span, through
his two companies, Rath filed 39
false GST returns.
In support of them, he prepared
85 forged documents.
He also used 13 forged documents
purporting to be from
Inland Revenue in support of
an entrepreneur residency visa
application to Immigration New
Zealand.
Inland Revenue, which
brought the prosecution against
Rath, said he was given just over
$1.3m in refunds.
During his first sentencing in
March, Rath said he had let his
wife and daughters down.
“I did defraud the system but I
needed a way to cover my costs.”
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