A leaked recording reveals the Kiwi founder of multi-billion dollar supplements company AG1 misrepresented his criminal history in public statements and in a meeting with the company’s chairman and staff this year.

Responding to a question from a YouTuber, Chris Ashenden’s high-powered US attorney claimed that he has never been charged with a crime, convicted of a crime, or the subject of a warrant for his arrest.

The former Auckland police officer has won business recognition in the United States for turning his company AG1 into a market leader; its green powder supplement is endorsed by celebrities such as Joe Rogan, Gwyneth Paltrow and Sir Lewis Hamilton.

But back in his native New Zealand, victims of his Auckland and Invercargill housing schemes spoke out on the podcast The powder kegdemanding the millionaire pay his unpaid fines and repairs.

His failure to disclose his criminal convictions came as part of a wide-ranging investigation on the podcast into the lack of science and regulation of the supplement industry and the exaggerated role of influencers such as Rogan and scientist Dr Andrew Huberman, who are paid millions dollars. promotes AG1.

Ngaio Peters worked six part-time jobs in 2005 to pay for the three-bedroom house he thought he had bought in the South Auckland community of Papakura.

But the money was not going to the bank, but to one of Ashenden’s investors. She thought she was giving her three children a step forward in life. “I thought I had something, but I really didn’t,” she says. “I feel like I’ve failed.”

It was her only chance to own a home. In the end, she received a somewhat token $2,300 in repairs—which barely scratched the surface of the $100,000 she put into the house. Other families received nothing.

Peters says Ashenden should pay compensation to his companies: “He can move on and has the opportunity to win in achievements and in his life. While I myself am still in the same place where I have nothing.”

Of the 15 families in Auckland, four ended up being evicted and three simply left their homes. It was a similar story for the six Invercargill families.

As CEO of AG1, Ashenden faced questions from the Newsroom and a YouTube journalist.

He hired a top lawyer to defend himself. Megan Meier had been appointed Lawyer monthly magazine 2023 Defamation Litigation Lawyer of the Year She and her partners won a $787 million case against Fox News for spreading misinformation about the 2020 US presidential election.

However, Newsroom’s year-long investigation, reported in the new DELVE podcast, revealed that the claims she made on behalf of Ashenden in May were not correct.

In addition to training Meier, Ashenden called a short-notice staff meeting in May to deflect questions about his criminal history. It related to property schemes he operated in Auckland and Invercargill more than 15 years ago that ended with people losing their homes – and Ashenden with 43 convictions.

He told staff: “In May 2011, we borrowed money and paid the fines and compensation we received from the court process, effectively resolving the matter and integrating the 15 clients.”

“I haven’t always talked in full detail about the mistakes I’ve made with each of you, to be honest. In the early days, when a lot of these things happened, they were probably caused by embarrassment.”

AG1 chairman Kat Cole (who has now been promoted to chief executive) told the meeting that the company would issue statements on its own channels to “get the facts and information in our corner”.

And sure enough, in July updates to a public statement about Substack, Ashenden claimed it had only been found to have violated regulatory offenses that resulted solely in monetary fines.

That’s not right either. He had been convicted of the crime.

After Newsroom continued to ask questions, Ashenden apologised, then stepped down as chief executive in a “gradual transition” – but remains a director of AG1 and will still not acknowledge his criminal convictions and unpaid fines and reparations of his defunct companies.

The The powder keg The Investigative Podcast launched last week and hit #1 on the Apple Podcast Charts in New Zealand over the weekend.

A new episode, now available first to DELVE+ subscribers, talks to the woman who first called in a complaint to the Commerce Commission and Ashenden’s business partner in the Invercargill scheme.

Business partner and man on the ground Glen Herud was initially charged, but prosecutors dropped the charges when he cooperated by revealing details of Ashenden’s operations. He paid his company’s court-ordered fines and restitution.

Herud says he had never intended to rob anyone, but now admits people were hurt in property deals where he and Ashenden’s companies pretended to sell homes to low-income families. Some of those families ended up being evicted; others were forced from homes they thought they owned.

His full interview is available on The powder keg podcast this week.

“I don’t think I was deliberately dishonest,” says Herud. “Maybe I’m just so easygoing, which probably bites me in the ass.

“Chris was aware that this was going on for about two years. And he said, oh look, we’ll take care of you, my lawyers are all in charge. So he called me and said, whatever you do, don’t talk to the Commerce Commission. God It was the worst advice ever.”

Ashenden, who left New Zealand to set up his celebrity-backed supplement firm before the charges were laid, did not return to court. Instead, he declared bankruptcy, owing $3 million.

In 2011, the Auckland District Court convicted him of 43 criminal breaches of the Fair Trading Act and ordered him to pay $365,000 in fines and reparations, split equally between him and his individual companies.

Contrary to his claims this year, he did not pay those fines and reparations that year. Instead, the Auckland District Court was forced to issue a warrant for his arrest in May 2011.

Finally, in September 2014, he paid back the fines and restitution for which he was personally liable – allowing the court to lift the arrest warrant.

But he liquidated his three companies, leaving magistrates in Invercargill and Auckland with no choice but to quash the fines and compensation that had been ordered against him.

That allowed Ashenden to return to New Zealand to visit his family and contract a local manufacturer to produce the green powder supplement for which he is now famous.

This narrative is totally different from the story Ashenden has told over the years and the incorrect statements he has made this year. After being questioned by Newsroom, he provided another statement via email: “I did not ensure that the specific dates and details that I provided to my lawyer and team were completely accurate. I have since corrected what I originally shared.”

The press room learned of the warrant after the Commerce Commission provided file documents to Ngaio Peters and Anita Mika – two of the Auckland women who had been victims of Ashenden’s property deals.

Most of the documents from court cases in Invercargill and Auckland had been destroyed by the Christchurch earthquake – but there were letters revealing the lengths the courts went to to try to get Ashenden to pay his fines and reparations.

“Ashenden is currently resident overseas and there is no indication that he is likely to return to New Zealand in the foreseeable future,” commission investigator Gerard Cassidy wrote. “As he lives outside New Zealand’s jurisdiction, we were unable to collect payment of the fine or compensation.

“A warrant for his arrest was issued by the court for non-payment of this compensation. If he returns to New Zealand, the Ministry of Justice will be responsible for recovering any money owed.”

“If you have not received any payment before, the only payment you may receive in the future is from Ashenden if it returns to New Zealand. Given that he is still bankrupt and living overseas, we think it is unlikely that you will receive any payment in the future.”

Ngaio Peters was never able to buy a house again. She says, “I feel angry and upset about something that I had and then lost.”

Powder Keg is reported, shot and written by Jonathan Milne with Mike Wesley-Smith. Audio is edited by Dave Filoiali and Megan Cumberbatch; video is edited by Trenton Doyle. Mark Jennings is executive producer.

This project received funding from The Brian Gaynor Business Journalism Initiative. The newsroom is indebted to this support for investigative journalism.