Press Release – Serious Fraud Office
Marcus Julian Friedlander (58) and Ralph Anthony Vuletic (31) have pleaded guilty in the Auckland High Court to charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

They were facing 25 charges under the Crimes Act: attempting to pervert the course of justice, using a document for the purpose of obtaining pecuniary advantage and uttering a forged document. Mr Friedlander will be sentenced on 10 December and Mr Vuletic will be sentenced on 29 November.

The charges were laid against Mr Friedlander and Mr Vuletic in January 2011 in relation creating a false debt to avoid bankruptcy. Mr Friedlander had a failing property development and insurance brokering businesses and was in debt to the tune of over $10 million.

SFO Acting Chief Executive, Mr Simon McArley said “Mr Friedlander and Vuletic executed an elaborate scheme to avoid Mr Friedlander’s bankruptcy and short change his creditors. The SFO believes that bringing this behaviour to account goes some way to restoring confidence in the New Zealand legal system, and particularly the fairness of the insolvency regime.

“This marks the end of a nine and a half year investigation and prosecution for the SFO, and demonstrates the office’s determination and perseverance in cases with strong public interest.”

BusinessDesk report by Jonathan Underhill
Ralph Vuletic has emerged as the accomplice of convicted fraudster Marcus Friedlander after pleading guilty to faking a debt meant to convince creditors to take a bath.

Friedlander already pleaded guilty in August but Vuletic, almost half Friedlander’s age at 31, had his name suppressed until today. They faced 25 charges under the Crimes Act of attempting to pervert the course of justice, using a document for the purpose of obtaining pecuniary advantage and uttering a forged document.

Vuletic will be sentenced on Nov. 29 and Friedlander on Dec. 10, according to a statement from the Serious Fraud Office. The historical charges date back to 2003, when the pair created a back-dated paper trail including the sale and purchase agreement on a property in Albany owned by Vuletic and a debt of some $4.6 million

Friedlander hoped to convince creditors of his ailing property development and insurance ventures to accept only 15 cents in the dollar. He was adjudicated bankrupt in 2003.

“Mr Friedlander and Vuletic executed an elaborate scheme to avoid Mr Friedlander’s bankruptcy and short change his creditors,” said SFO acting chief executive Simon McArley. “The SFO believes that bringing this behaviour to account goes some way to restoring confidence in the New Zealand legal system, and particularly the fairness of the insolvency regime.”

The SFO statement describes Friedlander as a property developer and insurance broker and Vuletic as “a budding property developer whose family owned valuable sections of land in Auckland.”