An ex-pat New Zealander who helped establish New Zealand companies that became linked to a North Korean arms deal and Mexican drug cartels, has been arrested by the Australia Federal Police and faces money laundering allegations and extradition to the United States.
The ABC reports Ian Taylor was arrested by the Australian Federal Police on the Gold Coast in April. The 49 year-old Taylor is in custody and is due to appear in a Gold Coast court in August, the ABC reports.
The ABC describes Taylor as "a Queensland jet ski salesman," and quotes his lawyer saying Taylor faces three charges, with a maximum penalty for each offence of 20 years jail.
Taylor, and his father Geoffrey Taylor, are infamous for establishing and selling companies, sometimes complete with nominee directors and shareholders, plus addresses, for an array of international clients over many years, many of which have caught the eye of law enforcement authorities.
In 2018 interest.co.nz reported NZ Police had received more than 350 criminal investigation enquiries from overseas relating to NZ companies established by the Taylors. The enquiries related to allegations the companies were being used for money laundering, smuggling, fraud, tax evasion, corruption, and breaches of trust involving hundreds of millions of dollars.
Taylor has never previously been charged with any wrongdoing, and has said he wasn't responsible for, or aware of, activities undertaken by clients' companies. Taylor's lawyer told the ABC the focus was on the extradition application, before further instructions from Taylor on defending any charges or allegations.
SP Trading
In NZ, the most famous Taylor created company is probably SP Trading Ltd. It leased a plane used to attempt to fly 35 tonnes of North Korean weapons to Iran in contravention of United Nations sanctions. Lu Zhang, the sole director of SP Trading whose day job was flipping burgers at Burger King, was convicted and discharged without further penalty after pleading guilty to making 74 false statements under the Companies Act.
Four other NZ firms registered by the Taylors, Keronol Ltd, Melide (NZ) Ltd, Tormex Ltd, and Dorio (NZ) Ltd, were alleged to have helped launder about US$40 million of the proceeds of a major money-laundering operation in the United States involving Latvian bank accounts and Wachovia Bank's London branch.
In 2010 Wachovia Bank agreed to pay US$160 million to settle US charges that it failed to stop up to US$378 million of Colombian and Mexican drug traffickers’ money being laundered through accounts at the bank.
In 2013 the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project described Ian Taylor as "a notorious company registration agent from New Zealand who has created companies for organized crime, rogue states and terrorism groups."
There's more on Taylor in this ABC 2020 TV report.
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