Books Cooked<\/strong><\/h2>\nOn Wednesday, Kerr pleaded guilty to several charges related to violating bankruptcy laws at the Christchurch District Court and was sentenced to five months home detention.<\/p>\n
One month before he was banned from racing, Kerr filed for bankruptcy, owing creditors $270K.<\/p>\n
Just before that, he gambled more than $2 million on horse and dog racing, according to The Press, <\/em>losing almost $1 million. That\u2019s a crime under New Zealand\u2019s Insolvency Act.<\/strong><\/p>\nKerr also violated several other provisions in the act. These included declaring an annual income of $40K when analysis of his bank accounts revealed it was closer to $228K, according to court filings. He also claimed he had opened just one bank account in the previous five years, when in fact he had opened six, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, he was found to have had continued involvement in the management of his company, Mitch Kerr Racing, despite being banned from doing so under bankruptcy regulations.<\/p>\n
Buyer\u2019s Remorse<\/strong><\/h2>\nKerr sold the phantom horse, an unraced three-year-old standardbred, to his victim in September 2019.<\/p>\n
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The buyer became suspicious after Kerr failed to send ownership papers. Kerr then informed his victim the horse wouldn’t make the grade and was a lost cause. When pressed further for proof of the horse\u2019s existence, Kerr sent the buyer images of a different horse that matched the description of the one the buyer was led to believe he had purchased.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Kerr continued to invoice his victim for training, fees, and insurance totaling $26K after the fraudulent sale.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a different person now and I just want to put my head down and carry on with my life,\u201d Kerr claimed in court Wednesday. \u201cI work and I contribute to my community every day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A former harness-racing trainer from New Zealand was convicted last year of fraud for selling a horse that didn\u2019t exist. This week, it emerged he illegally gambled more than $2 million before filing for bankruptcy, according to local media reports. In June 2022, Mitchell Kerr was sentenced to seven months\u2019 home detention for selling the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":318348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,14577],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Racing Trainer Who Sold Non-Existent Horse Gambled $2M<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n