Auckland developer pleads guilty to mortgage fraud

Simon Turnbull has been arrested at the border and since pleaded guilty to a nearly $50 million mortgage fraud.

Auckland developer Simon Lawrence Wood Turnbull has pleaded guilty to 16 charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), according to a Fairfax article. 

Turnbull was arrested at the border after coming back from overseas in June.

He has since pleaded guilty to 16 charges of obtaining by deception or causing loss by deception under the Crimes Act.

The mortgage fraud involved false loan applications submitted to a fund management company to purchase property in the Auckland area. 

The complainant, a second-tier lender, was allegedly tricked into loaning almost $50 million for the property purchases between 2003 and 2007.

Turnbull did not appear at his first court date nearly two years ago.

Serious Fraud Office director Julie Read said she welcomed the guilty plea in the Auckland District Court.

"In a housing market which has enough challenges for the honest buyer, further costs to borrowing because of other people's dishonesty is not acceptable."

Turnbull is set to be sentenced on November 18.