A man whose personal bank account was used to receive donations for New Zealand’s Parliament protest is bankrupt and has been declared insolvent three times.

The protest lasted for 23 days before ending in a riot on March 2 when police cracked down on the protesters.

Jamie Patrick Mansfield has built a social media following by posting antivax and conspiratorial content as Jae Ratana.

He often livestreamed events from the protest in Wellington, but also posted similarly conspiratorial content for months before the occupation.

However, the 35-year-old, who is also known as Jamie Murray, has a history of unpaid debt.

Mansfield was first declared bankrupt after applying for the process himself in the Rotorua District Court in December 2008, at which time he listed his occupation as unemployed.

Mansfield was automatically discharged as bankrupt in December 2011 but again applied for bankruptcy in July 2012, this time listing his occupation as a student.

He was again automatically discharged three years later and remained solvent for five years until again applying to be declared bankrupt in June 2020.

Mansfield’s latest bankruptcy remains current.

He also had a tenancy terminated in early 2020 after failing to pay rent.

The Tenancy Tribunal awarded the landlord $2770 — $1650 of which was recovered via a bond, but the balance remains outstanding.

Despite Mansfield’s background, his bank account was used to receive donations for Convoy NZ 2022, the group which instigated what became the protest and later occupation at Parliament grounds through February and early March.

RNZ understands Mansfield never disclosed his financial history to the group, and used the name Jae Ratana.

It was by no means the biggest group seeking donations in New Zealand’s antivax and anti-mandate circles, however, RNZ has seen evidence that thousands of dollars of donations to the group came flooding into Mansfield’s bank account by early February.

At least $14,000 had been deposited in just a few days.

How much was ultimately deposited into Mansfield’s bank account, where that money ended up and how it was spent remains unclear.

Mansfield and the organisers of the convoy group fell out, and just a few days into the occupation were not communicating.

Donations ‘signed off, triple checked’
RNZ attempted to contact Mansfield to get his side of the story.

When we first approached him via social media he responded there was “absolutely nothing to discuss”.

When pushed about the money raised and how it was spent, he responded: “There were so many people/groups collecting the pūtea [funds] and there also is a difference between koha and donation and as far as the groups I’m part of have [sic] concerned [sic] they have been signed off and accounted for and it’s been tripled check so as far as I’m concerned there is nothing further to talk about nor will the team be happy me speaking to a reported [sic] but I unfortunately do not trust any reporters either as story’s [sic] love to be twisted.”

When asked what he meant by the groups he was part of having things signed off, accounted for and triple checked, he responded: “No further questions thank u”.

He followed up with: “When u are ready I would love to see the so called information u have got”, “Then we will correct what is needed because I can guarantee you you do not have truthful information” and “I can probably stomp on what Information-hearsay you have”, before subsequently blocking this reporter from contacting him on Facebook.

Rumours have swirled on social media about the whereabouts of the money raised since the early days of the occupation.

Mansfield took to Facebook on March 8 to address the rumours: “Just to clarify and get that story straight, obviously the Convoy and occupation of Parliament I did help fund out of my personal money. For anyone who knows me personally, can back me up there.

“So I did help sponsor and donate to convoy. I did not steal any money. I did not help myself to any money,” he claimed in the livestream.

RNZ spoke to people who had known Mansfield personally and they say he has a long history of leaving people out of pocket.

‘An exceptionally bad tenant’ – landlord
One such person was the landlord who took Mansfield to the Tenancy Tribunal and ultimately had him evicted for unpaid rent and bills, and damage to the property.

He told RNZ he had still not seen the balance of the money he was owed by Mansfield.

“Jamie … was an exceptionally bad tenant who continually made promises he didn’t keep … I hope to never see him again,” the landlord, who RNZ agreed not to name, said.

Problems with the tenancy became clear almost as soon as Mansfield moved in as he was late with his rent for five of the first six weeks he lived in the rental and arrears grew from there, the landlord said.

“I knew he was a bad egg from the start and I was like ‘What the hell have I done letting this guy move into my house’ and then it was just a matter of following due process to get him out.

“He left the place in an absolute state. There was broken furniture and broken beds. I’ve got photos of a mountain full of rubbish that I had to drag out of the house, then get a company . . . come to pick it up to the tune of $300.

“He made no attempt to clean up after himself and just doesn’t give much regard to other people.”

RNZ again tried contacting Mansfield through his back-up accounts on social media to clarify how he came to be the one receiving donations, what aspects of his history he disclosed to the Convoy group and to find out how much money was received and how it was used.

He did not respond to those messages.

Group raises more than $60,000 by early March
The financing of the Parliament protest and occupation remains murky.

Weeks ago RNZ asked Voices For Freedom and The Freedoms and Rights Coalition for information on their finances — they did not respond.

One group that did give a glimpse into the huge sums of money involved was Profest.

Profest NZ Limited was incorporated on February 21 with Paul Currie as its sole director and shareholder.

Profest’s website publicly showed it raised more than $20,000 in online donations in just a few days and had raised more than $66,000 by March 4.

Currie, a Whangārei resident with business and property interests around New Zealand, said Profest was created to try to tie together the disparate and sometimes differing voices and movements at the protest.

He said he set it up because it was necessary to give the occupation “a little bit more of a format”.

Profest did not start collecting donations until over a week after the occupation began.

“Profest was late in the piece, involved more for directing some of the donations that were contributed but was by no means the most significant — financially — donation collector,” Currie told RNZ.

Unlike Voices For Freedom, The Freedoms and Rights Coalition or Jamie Mansfield, Currie spoke to RNZ freely and over a 38-minute conversation offered details about how donations to Profest were spent.

He could not offer a definitive sum on how much money was raised between on-the-ground cash donations, online donations and BitCoin, however, he said the group was committed to providing a financial summary to all who donated and that would occur in “due course”.

Only a “nominal” sum of what was donated remained and accounts were still being settled, Currie said.

Some of the larger infrastructure costs and ongoing food costs of the protest had fallen on Profest to pay, Currie said.

He had not taken any director’s fees or remuneration related to Profest NZ Ltd.

“I’m not in it for any personal financial gain,” Currie said.

When the protest ended Profest stopped calling for donations and closed the donation function on its website, unlike Voices For Freedom and The Freedoms and Rights Coalition which were still collecting donations.

Currie also said he was unaware of who Jae Ratana or Jamie Mansfield was. He did not believe he met him at the protest and he did not believe Mansfield had contributed financially to Profest.

RNZ understands a complaint was made to police regarding the whereabouts of money given to Mansfield.

“While investigations are ongoing we are not in a position to provide any comment relating to particular individuals/ groups,” police said in a statement to RNZ.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Police will not give details about finances and their investigation into the New Zealand protest against covid-19 public health measures which occupied Parliament’s grounds and surrounding streets.

Large sums of money traded hands during and leading up to the 23-day occupation, but it is unclear how it has been spent and who has benefitted.

FACT Aotearoa spokesperson Lee Gingold said groups like Voices For Freedom had been flexing their financial muscle.

“I think it’s a mistake to think they’re unsuccessful in their search for funding or that it’s too ramshackle because Voices For Freedom have splashed a lot of money around,” he said.

“They funded the court case which led to the exemption for the police, which I believe was $90,000 and in Wellington … there are a number of billboards from Voices For Freedom up around town.”

Voices For Freedom is the trading name of TJB 2021 Limited, which Voices For Freedom founders Claire Deeks, Libby Jonson, and Alia Bland served as its sole directors and shareholders.

The anti-vax group admitted they had been behind the distribution of two million flyers, thousands of large rally signs seen at the Parliament protest and other protests around the country, as well as billboards in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch.

The billboard sites were managed by Jolly Billboards.

Its director, Jonathon Drumm, told RNZ he did not want to comment other than to say the company complied with all the rules of the Advertising Standards Authority.

Drumm said Voices For Freedom were “probably not” one of the company’s larger clients, but he would not comment on whether the group received any kind of discount compared to other customers.

Financial transparency of Voices For Freedom
On their website, Voices For Freedom claim they intend to be transparent about their finances.

“VFF is funded through individual donations from thousands of concerned Kiwis. Funding is put towards the various projects we facilitate and the general running costs and overheads of the organisation,” the website said.

“Like any well run organisation receiving funding we intend to provide basic information on finances such as to provide accountability and transparency at appropriate junctures and at least annually.”

However, no financial statements for the group were available online.

RNZ tried contacting Deeks — who was third on the list for Billy Te Kahika and Jami-Lee Ross’ failed Advance New Zealand Party — but was unsuccessful.

Voices For Freedom did not respond to a set of questions sent to them regarding their finances and promises of transparency.

During a 2020 podcast which guested Deeks, host Pete Evans pushed people to sign up as distributors of dōTERRA, a multi-level marketing company selling essential oils, of which Deeks was apparently a platinum “Wellness Advocate” for.

Early in the pandemic, dōTERRA International was warned by the US Federal Trade Commission for social media posts made by reps claiming essential oils could prevent or treat covid-19.

Gingold said the various groups involved in the protest and the movements surrounding it had a variety of motivations.

“I think an awful lot of it is a grift. I think of Billy TK quite early on in the pandemic asking for money in every single post. You have to question whether or not some of these people actually believe what they’re pushing or whether it’s just another thing for them to push,” he told RNZ.

“It’s pretty hard to know their motivation, but you do start to get a bit of a vibe for it. If someone is just asking for a lot of money and they’re prepared to flip-flop their views pretty easily then it feels like a grift to me.”

A protester from Whangārei told RNZ he had heard there were “big donations” for the occupation.

“But I don’t really know what’s going on … I honestly don’t know where the money is going.”

On the other hand, the protester said he instead had concerns about government spending and transparency of that.

Detailed documents of the budget are published every year.

‘No financial links” to Freedoms and Rights Coalition, says Destiny Church

The Freedoms and Rights Coalition, which was also involved in protests during the pandemic, did not respond to RNZ inquiries about their finances and donations.

Ashleigh Marshall, who is listed as the sole director and shareholder of The Freedoms and Rights Coalition Limited, worked as an administrator for Destiny Church.

Church spokesperson Anne Williamson said there was no relationship between the two.

“Freedoms and Rights had a presence down at Parliament virtually from day one, but there was no financial involvement that I know of. I can check this all up for you.

“And there certainly is no financial or other tie up with Freedoms and Rights and the church.”

She said any further questions should be emailed to the church. But there was no response to further inquiries.

Self-proclaimed Apostle Brian Tamaki had spoken at several events organised by the group and shared many of their posts on his personal social media in the past.

‘They robbed those Māori whānau’ – National Māori Authority chair
National Māori Authority chairperson Matthew Tukaki said such groups were taking advantage of disaffected and vulnerable New Zealanders, particularly Māori.

Protesters link arms in front of police outside Parliament, February 2022. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver

“They were targeting vulnerable Māori. Māori that are more predisposed because of our history, because of colonisation — some of our people are already down that bloody hole,” he said.

“What that group did, those leaders in that coalition, they robbed those Māori whānau not only of what little money they probably had, but also their mana.”

Tukaki said considering the precursor activities to the Parliament protest, there was probably “about tens of thousands of dollars that had already been raised for that first stage”.

He said he suspected there was probably even more involved once the occupation began, with all sorts of supplies being provided on a daily basis.

“Even individual donations by February 22 had hit about $30,000 and so it might’ve been $10 from mum here, $20 from old mate down the road, whatever the case, but to sustain the enterprise for those couple of weeks down in Wellington it would have required hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“For example, we know Wellington City Council was handing out parking fines for vehicles that were illegally parked. We know at its height the police estimated there were roughly 800 vehicles down there. If you do the maths … you’re getting up to a huge amount of money per day.

“What was happening is people were going into one of the tents, they were presenting people in that tent with those parking fines and those parking fines were being paid. So that tells me for just the tens of thousands of dollars per week for just parking fines, there was money ready to go.”

‘Where did the money come from?’
Some businesses had fronted up on their financial involvement, but Tukaki said he believed there was more to it than individual donations.

“We also know those attending were less likely to have oodles of savings and money in their pocket to sustain themselves for a long protest,” Tukaki said.

“That $30,000 raised by February 22 from individual donations, that was probably the sum total of how much you could expect from individuals.

“So that comes down to where did the money come from? Well because we’ve got pretty lax laws in understanding money flow of overseas donations or overseas funds for these sorts of protests we are never going to actually know the true extent of what came in from overseas, but I would argue that a significant amount of money was being raised offshore.”

Social media posts among protesters speculated that some donations, potentially tens of thousands of dollars, had gone missing.

RNZ asked one of its organisers, who fronted up on social media to the issues surrounding the movement, if she would comment on the situation.

She declined, but in a post to Facebook said: “The original [bank] account was someone’s who turned out couldn’t be trusted and him and another organiser for the north took that money”.

She understood it was being investigated.

RNZ asked police whether any theft, fraud or financial crimes formed part of their investigation into the protest.

In a statement, a spokesperson said police were not in a position to comment on specific aspects of their investigation.

“The investigation phase into the criminal activity during the operation is underway,” the spokesperson said.

“Police are appealing for the public’s help to identify anyone involved in criminal activity during the operation and anyone with information is urged to report it to police.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz