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The president of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club has been convicted of money laundering and conspiracy to supply pseudoephedrine, a precursor to methamphetamine.
After more than four weeks, the High Court trial against President Pasilika Naufahu, Connor Michael Tamati Clausen and a woman with name suppression has come to an end.
The trio were arrested following a series of raids in Auckland in April 2019 in which more than $ 3.7 million in assets were seized along with luxury cars, motorcycles, high-end luggage and jewelry.
On Wednesday, after a day and a half of deliberations, the jury found Naufahu guilty of two counts of money laundering in connection with the purchase of a Bentley and a Ford Ranger.
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The gang boss was also convicted, along with Clausen, of conspiring to supply pseudoephedrine.
RICKY WILSON / THINGS
Connor Clausen was charged with conspiring to supply pseudoephedrine.
The woman was found guilty of laundering nearly $ 300,000 for the Comancheros, which was used to buy luxury cars.
Judge Graham Lang convicted the three defendants and will sentence Naufahu on November 24.
Clausen and the woman will be sentenced on December 9.
A media personality, who has name suppression, and accountant Wiwini Himi Hakaraia were originally tried along with the trio.
However, his charges of money laundering and participation in an organized criminal group were formally released midway through the trial.
NZ POLICE
Several vehicles were seized in the April raids.
Naufahu was also charged with conspiring to import a deleted Class A drug.
Comanchero members and associates were arrested in April 2019 after a massive police search.
In all, 18 were arrested, and three are yet to go to trial in district court next year.
Attorney Andrew Simpson and the gang’s vice president, Tyson Daniels, were among those arrested.
Simpson was jailed for two years and nine months after admitting to laundering more than $ 2 million for the gang.
Daniels was sentenced to four years and eight months after he pleaded guilty to participating in an organized crime group and nine counts of money laundering.
Chris McKeen / Stuff
Andrew Simpson was jailed for laundering more than $ 2 million for the Comancheros.
Before the trial, two other gang members, Jarome Fonua and Vetekina Naufahu, also pleaded guilty. They will be sentenced later this month on drug and money laundering charges.
The Superior Court trial
At trial, the Crown case was that Naufahu arrived in New Zealand with zero dollars in his bank account. Over the course of three years, more than a million dollars were deposited and withdrawn.
Various trusts were established and various bank accounts were used to launder money and then buy cars and luxury properties.
But Naufahu’s attorney, Ron Mansfield, said he had been painted as a demon and that the police were obsessed with him.
No drugs or money were found in his home, Mansfield said.
Naufahu admitted participating in an organized crime group and four counts of money laundering, in connection with the purchase of his home in Bucklands Beach, before the trial.
Not mythical $ 1 million
The Crown case was that Clausen was the one who delivered the money, inspected the pseudoephedrine and returned it to Naufahu, either to manufacture methamphetamine or simply to sell it.
But Clausen’s attorney, Simon Lance, said the man had not acted criminally.
STUFF
Members of the Comanchero motorcycle gang have been arrested in Auckland. (First published April 2019)
A video, taken by the police, was played in court showing the brother of a man who, according to the Crown, is at the “heart of the case” and an Australian hairdresser meeting with Clausen.
The hairdresser, He Sha, was jailed earlier this year after he admitted to crossing the Tasman to sell pseudoephedrine in a botched deal.
However, “there was no drug exchange,” Lance said.
“There was no transaction. There was no mythical million dollars. “
Seven months later, they searched Clausen’s house. No drugs or money were found.
The woman, who faced a representative laundering charge of $ 292,496, was far more interested in taking “relatively easy money” than investigating where it came from, the Crown said.
Numerous intercepted calls between a man, said to be the cash handler, and the woman have been played on the court, as well as videos of the couple breaking into various banks in Auckland.
“We’re going to work tomorrow, honey,” the man says on one of the calls before asking him to bring his ID to the bank.
However, his defense attorney Paul Heaslip said it was a “friendship that went awry and betrayed trust.”
The woman didn’t know it was “dirty money,” Heaslip said.
