An alleged conman known as ‘the Phantom’ appeared briefly in the Auckland District Court last week after being extradited from Australia. Auckland restaurateur Loizos Michaels, 44, appeared before Judge David McNaughton to face 140 fraud charges, totalling more than $2 million, before being remanded in custody.
Michaels had been due to stand trial in Auckland in March on charges alleged to have been committed in 2007 and 2008. He allegedly skipped bail in July 2010, after telling authorities he needed to visit his sick mother in Melbourne. Michaels, who owned Plato’s Greek Taverna in the Ponsonby suburb of Auckland, was arrested by the AFP in February, afterwhich he fought extradition to New Zealand on the grounds he would not receive a far trail due to the high profile of his alleged victims.
The Herald Sun newspaper first revealed Michaels was charged by New Zealand’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in February 2010, after allegedly using the name of Jonah Lomu in a fraud. He allegedly promised to make the former All Black rugby player Jonah Lomu “the global face of kick boxing,” but never paid Lomu for months of work.
He also allegedly used Lomu’s name to raise more than $300,000 from a couple as “security” on a luxury apartment sale which fell through. The SFO case is unrelated to the alleged Lomu deception, and is predicated on the allegation that Michaels persuaded two casino executives to invest more than $2.8 million in a make-believe takeover of Christchurch’s SkyCity casino.
Michaels lost his appeal against an extradition order at the Brisbane Supreme Court in June. He will appear at the Auckland court again on September 27.