Toddy 'fesses up

[Skinner]

tch tch, sorry too Skinner and know where you're coming from. But that is not neccessary.
Private lives have nothing to do with what this is about.
Otherwise yep, agree with that other stuff you mention.

You are correct DMM. I should not have made that reference. I broke one of
our guidelines on family references.

I have edited the post and your quote.

I make no apology however, for my strength of feelings for that arse wipe.

Major discussions around the internet at the moment with regards to the villains
who have ripped off our game......

....come on down.....Brent Todd :x

 

[Rich102]

Is it any wonder people get the wrong idea about our sport?
Brent Todd, Matthew Ridge, Sonny Bill, Hugh Mcgahan, Tevita Latu the list goes on and on.
Any of it for good things? No, all bad!
Thank heavens we have Stacey Jones and Steve Price on the side of good.
What, Price muttered under his breath at a referee? I don't believe it!

 

[ozbash]

Bankrupt, celebrity marriage in tatters, a fraudster with a drug conviction - Brent Todd's freefall from trans-Tasman rugby league star to home detention is complete.


Todd, 43, was sentenced to a year's home detention and 190 hours of community work for fraud in Auckland District Court yesterday.

After initially saying he would fight the four fraud charges, he and business partner Stanley Malik Champalal Wijeyaratne admitted the offences relating to hundreds of thousands of dollars of gaming machine money intended for amateur rugby.

Todd escaped a prison sentence in part because he agreed to give evidence against five of his co-accused next year.

Wijeyaratne was fined $50,000.

The sentence is the latest slide in a high-profile downfall for the one-time darling of Auckland's A-list who married Australian surfing beauty Wendy Botha, owned Viaduct Basin real estate, starred on reality television and counts many high-profile New Zealanders as his close friends.

Todd played 28 tests for the Kiwis between 1985 and 1993, and won Australia's 1988 NFL grand final with the Canberra Raiders.

He banked on his celebrity status, renowned humour and distinctive looks - including a mammoth cleft chin - to build a television career. He married Botha in 1993.

They had two children but split in about 2005.

At the time of the offending, from early 2000 to late 2004, Todd co-owned five pubs.

These days, he is calling in favours from old mates for low-skilled jobs that enable him to live week to week.

Todd returned from his Queensland home to face the charges five weeks ago and The Dominion Post understands the former businessman has been washing cars at Matthew Ridge's Car-Fe and working as a bouncer at Cowboy Bar, which is owned by Leo Malloy, brother of Julie Christie, founder of Touchdown TV production company.

The home detention sentence includes provision for Todd to work. He will not be able to return to Australia till his sentence is complete.

Sporting celebrities Ridge and April Ieremia were in court yesterday to support him. Outside the court, Todd said he had returned to New Zealand to face his crimes.

"I'm here to face it, whatever happens."

Judge Tom Everett cut a five-year prison sentence to 12 months' home detention after giving him discounts for his early plea, agreeing to testify against his five co-accused and having repaid about $300,000 of the illegally obtained money.

The sentence could have been even lighter had Todd been able to make full reparation, Judge Everett said.

"You have been made bankrupt, you have lost your assets and you're now working in employment and there is no prospect of any further reparation," he said.

It was Todd's second conviction in just over a year.

In September 2006 he admitted his involvement in the "celebrity drug case", admitted procuring cocaine and was fined $500.

The following month, Todd told a women's magazine that his grandmothers had died, within weeks of each other, before his drug procurement court case.

One died with a clipping about him stuffed under a cushion in her lounge.

He said at the time he was hurt that his grandmothers died thinking he was potentially a drug dealer.

Around that time he was reported to be working as a labourer on a film set in Queensland, having declared voluntary bankruptcy in February 2006.

Five others - high-profile sports stars and administrators - will stand trial next year as part of the same fraud investigation for which Todd was sentenced yesterday.

Lawyers for ex-All Black Doug Rollerson, former Kiwi league captain Hugh McGahan, Touch New Zealand former chief executive Dick Arnott and former employee Geoffrey Thompson and a woman whose name is suppressed said they would vigorously defend charges

www,stuff

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Is it any wonder people get the wrong idea about our sport?
Brent Todd, Matthew Ridge, Sonny Bill, Hugh Mcgahan, Tevita Latu the list goes on and on.
Any of it for good things? No, all bad!
Thank heavens we have Stacey Jones and Steve Price on the side of good.
What, Price muttered under his breath at a referee? I don't believe it!

You can leave Sonny Bill off that list imo, his major crimes are banging a chick in the toilets and having a leak down a dark alleyway

 

[Rich102]

And those things show our sport in a good light? Alcohol abuse is rife. How many junior teams award their Player of the Day beer as a prize? For many clubs bar sales are a major fund raiser and under-age sales are often condoned.
For many kids Sonny Bill is a hero. His admission that he has alcohol problems is admirable and if he sorts himself out he will have set a good example.

 

[Skinner]

From (a fairly disgruntled) NZ Herald :

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10481245

Todd doing his time at Ridge's

5:00AM Sunday December 09, 2007
By Stephen Cook


Brent Todd is serving a 12-month home detention sentence.

In prison, he'd be in A Block, B Block or C Block. But Brent Todd, home detainee, is more concerned about sunblock.

Forget about exposure to the harsh realities of prison life; for Todd it is all about exposure to harsh UV rays.

On day one of his 12-month sentence of home detention, Todd - dressed in a summer ensemble of singlet, shorts and electronic anklet - was seen lapping up the sun and lifting weights in the front yard of Matthew Ridge's Herne Bay home.

The judge in the case, Thomas Everitt, has promised he will be taking a personal interest in how Todd is dealing with home detention.

"I want to see how it's going, and how you are coping," he said at Friday's sentencing.

We can assure the judge that Todd has dealt just fine with day one, ensconsed on an airbed and sun towel.

Ridge and Todd will be flatmates for the next year while Todd completes his 12-month sentence of home detention after admitting charges relating to kickbacks he received from charity gaming funds supplied to sports organisations.

For Todd, it's been a major and high-profile fall from grace.

Under the terms of his home detention, he is allowed to continue working at Ridge's Auckland carwash business, Car-Fe, and as a bouncer at a nightclub.

Nevertheless, the sentence will be difficult for Todd as it means he will not be able to see his children in Australia.

Todd wasn't returning calls yesterday, and close friend April Ieremia was unsure how the former league star would manage his sentence.

She was still coming to terms with Friday's court appearance. "I have not been to district court before... it was a pretty interesting experience," she said.

Todd played 28 tests for the Kiwis between 1985 and 1993, and won Australia's 1988 NFL grand final with the Canberra Raiders.

 

[ozbash]

what a joke

 

[LeagueNut]

Todd played 28 tests for the Kiwis between 1985 and 1993, and won Australia's 1988 NFL grand final with the Canberra Raiders.

Typical bloody Herald. :lol:

 

[Skinner]

Typical bloody Herald. :lol:

:lol: :lol:

 

[mean]

April 'mediawhore' Iremia fronts the next Woman's Day, "How I Once Nearly Died Going Up The Escalator To Courtroom 4", next week - "Why I Named My Son's Middle Name Brent."

How predictable....

"Todd wasn't returning calls yesterday, and close friend April Ieremia was unsure how the former league star would manage his sentence.

She was still coming to terms with Friday's court appearance. "I have not been to district court before... it was a pretty interesting experience," she said."

 

[ozbash]

apes reads this forum ??

A gaming trust fears pokie fraudsters will think they can get off lightly after former rugby league star Brent Todd and his business partner escaped a prison sentence.


Pub Charity chief executive Martin Cheer said a sentence of 12 months home detention for Todd and a $50,000 fine for Stanley Wijeyaratne was "disappointing".

"In real terms, as far as a disincentive for people who want to rort the system, it is a minimal deterrent."

They have jointly repaid $1 million to rugby organisations half the cash they took in kickbacks. They're not required to repay the rest. Todd, who is bankrupt, paid just a third of the $1m.

His scam with Wijeyaratne involved sending fake invoices to North Harbour Rugby Union (NHRU) and Touch New Zealand from 2000 to 2004 for work never carried out, including speaking engagements, consultancy and training fees.

In return for the cash, the pair helped the organisations get $4m of grants from gaming trusts associated with pokie machines in five pubs they owned.

When NHRU and Touch New Zealand applied to trusts for funding, the pair supported their applications. When applications succeeded, they were paid half the grants money.

Dale Stephens, the outgoing CEO of Touch New Zealand, said the frauds had "tainted" the organisation and four trusts had this year refused or delayed funding as a result of the SFO inquiry.

He said this had a "huge" impact on cashflow which affected up to 320,000 touch players.

Touch New Zealand declared itself insolvent in May and was rescued by Sport and Recreation Council, which fast-forwarded funding.

But new chairman Steve Wilkinson, who has been a board member since August last year, said Touch New Zealand had received no feedback from the trusts to suggest the SFO investigation had made them nervous to the point where they were holding back grants.

In sentencing the pair, Judge Tom Everitt said a major mitigating factor was that they had agreed to give evidence next year against another five accused former All Black Doug Rollerson, former Kiwis league captain Hugh McGahan, Touch New Zealand former chief executive Dick Arnott and former employee Geoffrey Alan Thomson, as well as an Auckland businesswoman who has name suppression.

Todd, who was at Auckland's Crow Bar the night before the Friday sentencing, must also do 190 hours of community service at the Phobic Trust.

He has been working as a doorman at Cowboy bar, which is owned by Julie Christie's brother Leo Molloy, and at his friend Matthew Ridge's Car-Fe carwash.

Ridge and Christie were in court to support him along with April Ieremia.

stuff

 

[Skinner]

apes reads this forum ??

Kin oath she does mate. Any "former sports star" worth their salt reads this forum

 

[Iafeta]

This situation is a real shame IMO, from a selfish perspective my first real inkling of league came from watching Toddy at the Raiders...

The problem with criminal proceedings these days is that they are very much presuaded in their sentencing to the rehabilitation side of things for the offendor. That is somewhat understandable, if a person can be rehabilitated and get back into the community to make a positive influence, that is good. However I really believe most criminal sentencings lately, especially over here in Australia, are too reliant on that and not reliant enough on the other necessary cause of sentencing, deterrent. To me, that doesn't deter other offendors. It just doesn't cut the mustard. I am a fan of rehabilitation when the crime committed is not deliberate, or they are misled, but when it's repetitive and deliberate I have a huge issue with sentences like this.

 

[ozbash]

presuaded in their sentencing to the rehabilitation side of things for the offendor.

very true, especially if you have the intestinal fortitude to dob your mates in...

 

[mean]

Toddy also had his $100,000 advance/loan from ARL written off a couple of years ago. Both he and Allan Vaughan must also be "friends" of McGregor/Auckland Rugby League. Gonna be interesting to see if Wijaratne's advance/loan gets repaid as well.

With the demise of all these finance companies, some real friends of Auckland Rugby League (players/coaches/supporters/stakeholders etc) should also be entitled to these interest free or low interest loans, particularly if you don't have to pay them back!

 

[Archangel2]

Lets hope Toddy remembers, the people who put him where he is now, and narcs.
Usually like a lot of others on this site, have no time for Informers, this time I do!
If Todd can finger the scum hiding in the shadows feeding off our game then all power to him! Do it Toddy show us how much you love the game and dob them in! For at the end of the day, these are the ones that keep our game down. And just on the last quote, if Macgregor has indeed wiped a $100,00.00 worth of advance/loan. Then what is he doing running the ARL? Obviously there is something really wrong with this...And why has he not been voted way the F##K out of the ARL?
Oh I forgot he's still trying to live in his Dad's shadow....not even half the man your dad was.