The couple pretended to be experienced investors for 7 years. They defrauded friends of $3.9 million
A couple from New Zealand has confessed to being involved in a scam in which 55 community investors have lost several million dollars since 2014.
New Zealand couple built a financial pyramid scheme, taking advantage of investors’ lack of knowledge
On Monday, Aroha Awhinanui Tuira appeared before the Christchurch High Court, where she pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud. Earlier, the same statement was made by her husband, Thomas Alexander Kokouri Tuira, known as “Alex.”
The criminals’ target was the local Maori (Māori) community, to whom they presented themselves as experienced, professional investors, promising high returns on their investments. In reality, their business was a typical financial pyramid scheme, a type of scam that relies on a constant flow of new victims. First, the scammers promise their first customers high, unrealistic profits (often without risk). However, the money raised from them is not invested – instead, the pyramid’s owners use it to pay for private expenses and look for more “investors” (in this case, customers were promised to invest their money in real estate – including a sports stadium).
When new participants deposit their funds, those funds go primarily to earlier investors. This creates the illusion of a legitimate, profitable investment, which encourages new people to join. When the takers run out, the pyramid begins to collapse.
The New Zealand perpetrators intentionally built close relationships with people with very little experience in the financial markets, claiming to be the finsnow elite rotating among celebrities such as Robert Kiyosaki and NBA legend Michael Jordan and managing a $20 million business. In this way, they managed to extort the equivalent of about $3.9 million from 55 people over a period of seven years. Some of these people had been their acquaintances for decades.
According to investigators’ findings, from May 2014 to May 2021, the couple fraudulently carried out 104 financial transactions. Sentence against both defendants is expected to be handed down on November 7, 2025.
