{"id":318347,"date":"2024-04-25T18:47:37","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T23:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=318347"},"modified":"2024-04-26T09:08:54","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T14:08:54","slug":"racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/","title":{"rendered":"Racing Trainer Who Sold Nonexistent Horse Gambled $2M Before Bankruptcy"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former harness-racing trainer from New Zealand was convicted last year of fraud for selling a horse that didn\u2019t exist<\/a>. This week, it emerged he illegally gambled more than $2 million before filing for bankruptcy, according to local media reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Mitchell
Mitchell Kerr, right, sold a nonexistent horse, not pictured, as part of a scam to fleece his victim. On Wednesday, he admitted to a slew of bankruptcy violations. (Image: Stuff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In June 2022, Mitchell Kerr was sentenced to seven months\u2019 home detention for selling the fictitious animal for NZ$40,000 (US$25K). That was in addition to other industry-related frauds.<\/p>\n

\n

He also sent invoices to six owners for insurance premiums on fabricated policies he claimed he had taken out on their horses. And, he forged the signature of one owner of two horses on documents to reduce their ownership percentage of the horses without their knowledge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A successful trainer during his three-year career, with 87 wins for around $900K in stake money, Kerr was banned for life from the industry for his transgressions.<\/p>\n

Books Cooked<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On 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>\n

Kerr 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>\n

Kerr sold the phantom horse, an unraced three-year-old standardbred, to his victim in September 2019.<\/p>\n

\n

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":"\nRacing Trainer Who Sold Non-Existent Horse Gambled $2M<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mitchell Kerr was convicted of fraud and banned from racing for selling a non-existent horse. He also violated bankruptcy law.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Racing Trainer Who Sold Non-Existent Horse Gambled $2M\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mitchell Kerr was convicted of fraud and banned from racing for selling a non-existent horse. He also violated bankruptcy law.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-25T23:47:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-26T14:08:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kerr.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"564\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/\",\"name\":\"Racing Trainer Who Sold Non-Existent Horse Gambled $2M\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kerr.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-25T23:47:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-26T14:08:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Mitchell Kerr was convicted of fraud and banned from racing for selling a non-existent horse. He also violated bankruptcy law.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kerr.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kerr.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":564,\"caption\":\"Mitchell Kerr, right, sold a non-existent horse, not pictured, as part of a scam to fleece his victim. On Wednesday, he admitted to a slew of bankruptcy violations. (Image: Stuff)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Crime & Scandals\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Racing Trainer Who Sold Nonexistent Horse Gambled $2M Before Bankruptcy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Racing Trainer Who Sold Non-Existent Horse Gambled $2M","description":"Mitchell Kerr was convicted of fraud and banned from racing for selling a non-existent horse. He also violated bankruptcy law.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Racing Trainer Who Sold Non-Existent Horse Gambled $2M","og_description":"Mitchell Kerr was convicted of fraud and banned from racing for selling a non-existent horse. He also violated bankruptcy law.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2024-04-25T23:47:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-26T14:08:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":564,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kerr.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/","name":"Racing Trainer Who Sold Non-Existent Horse Gambled $2M","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kerr.jpg","datePublished":"2024-04-25T23:47:37+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-26T14:08:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Mitchell Kerr was convicted of fraud and banned from racing for selling a non-existent horse. He also violated bankruptcy law.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kerr.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kerr.jpg","width":1000,"height":564,"caption":"Mitchell Kerr, right, sold a non-existent horse, not pictured, as part of a scam to fleece his victim. On Wednesday, he admitted to a slew of bankruptcy violations. (Image: Stuff)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/racing-trainer-who-sold-non-existent-horse-gambled-2m-before-bankruptcy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Crime & Scandals","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Racing Trainer Who Sold Nonexistent Horse Gambled $2M Before Bankruptcy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318347"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318347"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318383,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318347\/revisions\/318383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}