The director of failed finance company Belgrave has pleaded guilty to charges of theft and making false statements.
The charges were brought by the Serious Fraud Office after Belgrave collapsed in 2008 owing 1000 investors about $22 million.
Shane Joseph Buckley pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court on Friday to 19 charges of theft by a person in a special relationship and four charges of making false statements by a promoter.
The SFO says Buckley misrepresented to investors how their money would be used, before using those funds in an unauthorised manner.
Buckley has been remanded at large and will be sentenced in August. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail.
The SFO has laid similar charges against Belgrave's finance director Stephen Charles Smith and an associate Raymond Tasman Schofield.
They have been committed for trial with a date yet to be set.
