Former Lotto presenter avoids jail over international drug-money laundering scheme

Former Lotto presenter Russell Harrison received a relatively small windfall of his own in 2019 when he agreed to convert over $400,000 in drug money into gold bullion, which he then delivered to the “supreme commander” of the Comancheros in Turkey.

He would later receive a much larger windfall as he spent five years on leave, with full pay, from a Ministry of Justice job he had started just weeks before his 2021 arrest.

The Rotorua-based entertainer will now pay his debt to society by spending 10 months on electronically monitored home detention for his part in the money-laundering scheme, a judge has decided this afternoon.

Harrison, 56, had faced up to seven years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to money laundering in June, at which point the media was allowed to report his identity for the first time.

“You are clearly a dedicated and committed family man,” Justice Michael Robinson said today, noting that Harrison had no prior convictions and showed clear remorse. “I have no doubt you will never appear before a court again.”

According to court documents, members of a major drug-importing and distribution syndicate in New Zealand had been looking for ways to get profits back to its alleged leader: Rotorua native Duax Ngakuru, the self-proclaimed “supreme commander” of the Comancheros, who was then living in Turkey.

Ngakuru’s cousin, Justin Te Kowhai, and another man with name suppression came up with the gold bullion idea in May 2019. Te Kowhai was sentenced earlier today to 17 years and four months’ imprisonment on that and myriad other charges.

One month later, Harrison received $420,000 in cash derived from drug trafficking during a clandestine meeting at an Onehunga cemetery. That same day, he used the money to buy six bars of gold bullion from an Auckland gold dealer for $416,000.

He then flew to Turkey 10 days after that, meeting Ngakuru in person.

“Customs inspected Mr Harrison before he left the country, and found he was carrying six gold bars in his hand luggage”, stated the summary of facts for his case. “Mr Harrison was also in possession of a Power of Attorney document which had been produced and notarised in Turkey. The document indicated that Mr Harrison was acting as a courier.”

Russell Harrison (centre) performs in 2012. Photo / Stephen Parker

The document didn’t, however, name the gang leader as the intended recipient.

By the time of Harrison’s recruitment, the organised crime syndicate had already been under surveillance for years. Customs and the Police National Organised Crime Group had launched Operation Van in 2016.

The local investigation had been given a major boost by Operation Trojan Shield, an audacious global law enforcement effort in which criminals around the world were duped by the FBI and the Australian Federal Police into using a messaging service called ANOM. The app, promoted specifically to the criminal fraternity, was supposed to be encrypted providing extra protection from police surveillance warrants. In reality, it was funnelling communications directly to law enforcement.

Harrison’s sentencing today was based on an agreement with the Crown that his offending was reckless rather than intentional.

“It needs to be realised that he did treat these individuals with whom he was involved as respected members of the community,” defence lawyer Ron Mansfield, KC, told the judge today. “He didn’t really see them as people who were likely to set him up.”

There was no evidence of direct financial compensation other than his all-expenses-paid trip to Turkey, the lawyer argued.

Russell Harrison (left) appears with Lotto co-presenters in 2007.

“If he was entirely aware that this was dodgy from the get-go ... one might not have seen him operate so openly as he did so far as his dealing with the authorities,” Mansfield said. “There can be no doubt that it was known to the authorities what he was carrying, and that he got the required authority.”

Intercepted communications suggested that Harrison had hoped Ngakuru would put up the capital for the entertainer to open a legal medicinal cannabis business in New Zealand.

Mansfield asked for significant reductions for his client, suggesting that he might be eligible for less restrictive community detention rather than home detention. More so than many defendants, his client’s public profile will mean he will suffer longer from his fall from grace, the lawyer said.

“It becomes, unfortunately, what people might remember most about him,” he added. “He’s a very proud man with a lot to offer, and I would like to think that he can rise above it despite the very adverse reporting in relation to his plea.”

Crown prosecutors Ben Kirkpatrick and Henry Steele did not oppose the defence’s request for a non-custodial sentence but suggested home detention rather than community detention. He must have had some idea of the scale of the operation and would have expected a significant commercial gain other than a free trip to Turkey, they suggested.

But they also acknowledged his role amounted to that of a low-ranking money mule.

If Harrison was “naively blinded” by people he trusted, as suggested by his lawyer, he was also highly reckless, the judge noted.

“I ... take into account the circumstances in which you received the cash and travelled with gold bullion, and I agree [with the Crown] that they were indeed highly suspicious,” he said.

Justice Michael Robinson in the High Court at Auckland. Photo / Michael Craig

Harrison was initially accused by authorities of laundering $6 million, but the amount was significantly lowered over the years as the case meandered through the court system. A charge of participating in an organised criminal group was also withdrawn.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said last month that a rapid review of the Ministry of Justice had been initiated after Harrison “made a fool” of the government department by staying on the payroll for five years after his arrest, even though he wasn’t required to work.

“We are obviously very angry,” Goldsmith said. “It has frankly been a comedy of errors over five years.

“It was astonishingly poorly handled, and I am not defending it in any way, shape or form.”

Harrison was also featured in a 2023 Health NZ ad while awaiting trial.

According to documents obtained by the Taxpayers’ Union under the Official Information Act, seen by the Herald, Health NZ spent $490,000 on the 2023 Acts of Aroha immunisation advertisement. The entertainer was reportedly paid $3000 for his involvement.

Rotorua-based entertainer Russell Harrison appears in the dock in the High Court at Auckland in September 2026 as he is sentenced for helping to launder over $400,000 in methamphetamine profits. Photo / Corey Fleming

Harrison is perhaps best known for his regular appearances on TV as a Lotto presenter for more than a decade in the early 2000s. He’s also appeared in New Zealand movies, including Once Were Warriors sequel What Becomes of the Broken Hearted, and hosted Kai Safari on Māori Television.

Once Were Warriors star Temuera Morrison voiced his support for Harrison after the charges were recently made public.

Harrison has also performed in theatre and on cruise ships. His musical groups included Russell Harrison and the Brown Boys and The Howard Morrison Trio – a tribute group to the iconic New Zealand singer that also features Howard Morrison’s son.

Appearing beside Harrison in the High Court at Auckland dock today were co-defendants Pomare James Patrick Pirini and Carlo Ripi Maraenui Gear.

Gear, the youngest of the defendants, pleaded guilty to participating in an audacious but ultimately abandoned conspiracy to collect a 1.5-tonne shipment of cocaine about 300km off the coast of Tauranga. He was 21 and 22 years old at the time but is now 29.

Mansfield described him as more akin to the “cabin boy” than the skipper in the planned endeavour - tasked with doing mechanical work and chasing after scheme leader Te Kowhai, the father of his partner.

Gear was described by the judge as having grown up in a family marred by domestic violence and gangs. His father became president of the Filthy Few gang when Gear was a teenager and his grandfather was a founding member of the Mongrel Mob. He started using methamphetamine at 14 and was an addict at the time of offending but has since completed rehab, Justice Robinson noted.

Gear was sentenced to five months’ home detention.

Carlo Gear (left) and Comancheros Bay of Plenty president Pomare Pirini appear in the High Court at Auckland for sentencing after admitting to their participation in a major drug syndicate uncovered by Operation Van. Photo / Corey Fleming

Pirini, a 501 deportee and former manslaughter convict who at the time of offending led the Bay of Plenty chapter of the Comancheros, pleaded guilty to laundering $1,099,400 in drug money.

Mansfield said his client had since left the gang and was gainfully employed.

“He is very much a family man,” the lawyer said. “I’d go so far as to say he’s a changed man.”

Pirini was sentenced to 10 months’ home detention at a Whakatāne address.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.