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Eugene DeMarco was a specialist pilot and production manager for The Vintage Aviator company of filmmakers Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh. (File photo)
Sir Peter Jackson’s former vintage aircraft pilot, convicted fraudster Eugene DeMarco, has been denying the Official Assignee’s authority to administer his bankruptcy, a recent court decision says.
DeMarco, 61, was jailed for dishonesty offences against Jackson-related parties, and others, after holding a senior position in The Vintage Aviator company of filmmakers Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh.
He also faced civil court proceedings, including relating to a failed house sale deal that led to him being declared bankrupt.
In a decision issued from the High Court in Wellington, Justice Paul Radich heard evidence that DeMarco had repeatedly denied the Official Assignee’s authority to administer his bankrupt estate and nothing had been recovered so far for creditors.
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“It is put on the basis that … DeMarco is vexing the Official Assignee which operates as an indirect attack on the petitioning creditors and on The Vintage Aviator Ltd which is the victim of his fraud for which he was imprisoned,” the judge said.
As a bankrupt, DeMarco is supposed to have the Official Assignee’s consent to leave New Zealand.
However, in September 2022 United States-born DeMarco asked for approval to go to the US to see his 94-year-old mother whose health was deteriorating. He said he would return the next month.
The Official Assignee let him know that the application would be considered urgently, but to do so DeMarco would have to meet certain conditions including completing a statement of affairs for his assets and liabilities in the US and in New Zealand.
Piers Fuller/Stuff
Eugene DeMarco with a WWI fighter plane a Hood Aerodrome, Masterton. (File photo)
He supplied some information but not his statement of affairs. The information disclosed that DeMarco was alleged to have tried to fly to the US in August 2022 in breach of parole conditions as well as without the consent of the Official Assignee.
While staff in the Official Assignee’s office were still processing his September application Interpol let them know that DeMarco had left New Zealand the previous night – two days after he made his application.
DeMarco wanted to appeal against the Official Assignee’s decision about travelling. Justice Radich said it was “difficult to discern a tenable basis for the appeal”.
The Official Assignee had given permission on condition that DeMarco provide some information which, as a bankrupt, he was supposed to have given in any event, the judge said.
Ross Giblin/Stuff
Filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson employed Eugene DeMarco at The Vintage Aviator. (File photo)
The Official Assignee was interested to know how DeMarco was able to pay for his airfare for the attempt to leave New Zealand in August 2022. For the September trip DeMarco said his employer would pay for the tickets.
The judge decided the appeal could only proceed if DeMarco paid $16,849 into court as security for costs that he could be ordered to pay to the Official Assignee if the appeal went to a full hearing and DeMarco lost.
The judge said that, even though DeMarco had filed the appeal, he also said that the court did not have power to consider it. DeMarco raised a “pseudolaw” distinction between the “corporate form of Mr DeMarco” and “a people who is called Eugene”.
The only court with jurisdiction over him was the “People’s Full High Court” which was said to be in Huntly.
