A Whanganui business owner and two staff have been sentenced after authorities say they were involved in a "sophisticated forgery ring" that produced false passports, including UN identification, to sell around the world.
The staff of Magnoli Props have appeared in the Whanganui District Court for sentencing today. The made-to-order online business supplied buyers from across the globe, including the US, UK, Canada, Japan, and Australia, according to Customs.
As part of its work, the agency said the business supplied "fake documents", including passports, driver’s licences, and government official ID cards. It also supplied "United Nations’ ID cards and United Nations’ diplomatic passports."
The sole director of the business, Anthony Magnoli, was sentenced to three months of community detention and a $10,000 fine.
"His two staff, 38-year-old Kolbe Hungerford-Morgan was sentenced to two months community detention and $10,000 fine, and 22-year-old Xenia Hungerford-Morgan was discharged without conviction due to the minor administrative role she had.
"The defendants each faced two representative charges of knowingly exporting goods for dishonest purposes under the Customs and Excise Act 2018, and two charges of unauthorised use of the name and emblem of the United Nations under the Flags, Emblems and Name Protection Act 1981," according to Customs.
The agency said its "review of business records revealed numerous customers’ orders which often requested multiple passports made in different nationalities but under one person’s name."
Customs Service chief officer of fraud and prohibition, Nigel Barnes, said the identity documents which Magnoli manufactured and exported were of extremely high quality.
"Overseas law enforcement found a number of the false documents at their borders, or in the hands of criminals using them for illegal activities including loan fraud," he said.
"Customs and our international partners take this sort of criminal offending very seriously because of the ways such fake documents can be used for illegal purposes."
According to the agency, the charges resulted from an investigation that began in November 2019 in response to "information received from overseas enforcement agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, about false identity documents being sold and exported from New Zealand.
"Customs’ investigations identified the illegal activity was being carried out by a Whanganui-based company, Magnoli Props, and executed a search warrant at the business, which operated from Magnoli’s home.
"Investigators seized a wide range of equipment, tools and material needed for manufacturing false identity documents, along with partially finished and fully finished identity documents ready for export."
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