(No) Wings Over Waikato—The Reckoning

Ken Ross, the man who attempted to organise a major air show (Wings Over Waikato) in Hamilton in 2008, was convicted of five criminal fraud charges and six charges laid under the Fair Trading Act, in relation to the failed air show, when he appeared in the Hamilton District Court last month.

Numerous ticket-holders, exhibitors and sponsors collectively lost hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result of the failed show.

In delivering his 40-page judgement, Judge Robert Spear said he did not believe it had been Ross’s intent to defraud the public and accepted that Ross had been serious in his intention to host a show that he hoped would rival the Warbirds Over Wanaka event. However, the judge attributed the show’s failure to Ross’s naivety, lack of administration support and his inability to obtain or accept necessary professional advice, and he said that because Ross failed to support himself with an able management team from an early stage, the air show was “doomed to fail”.

Most of the charges laid by the police and the Commerce Commission related to misleading or false statements made by Ross to Hamilton International Airport, in a brochure advertising the event, on a website set up to promote the air show, and in an email update that Ross sent to various stakeholders.

Judge Robert Spear found that Ross had falsely claimed to have secured exclusive broadcast television screening rights for the popular drama mini-series Piece of Cake, falsely claimed to have secured the appearance of the Patriots jet aerobatic team for the air show, made a false statement that ticket sales had reached $1.15 million, and fraudulently used the logo of the International Council of Air Shows (ICAS) on letters and business cards. In addition, he also altered the terms and conditions on the airshow.co.nz website after selling more than $500,000 worth of tickets

Ross has been remanded on bail until January 2010 in order to obtain a pre-sentence report. Judge Spear said that all sentencing options remained open.