The failed media manager, the fraudster and the fake doctor

A convicted fraudster and failed business manager are now calling themselves social workers at a planned new Christchurch health centre with an unregistered doctor.

The new health centre, called 1st Health, listed Dr Kyle Jones as its general practitioner on a website where patients were invited to book appointments.

However, Jones does not appear on the Medical Council of New Zealand's register of doctors and he is not known to Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.

The centre's two social workers were listed as Brodie Williams, former manager of failed Christchurch business Zone Media Limited, and Veronica Stuart, who has convictions for fraud and previously operated a male sex club called The Closet on Ferry Rd.

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The 1st Health website appears to have been taken down after Stuff approached Williams on Sunday.

Zone Media, formed by director Jacob Williams (formerly known as Zach Anthony), with Brodie Williams listed as the manager – went into liquidation in December 2018 owing over $100,000 to 31 creditors.

Williams, who is before the courts on a charge of harassing the liquidator, was a shareholder until February 21 in a company called 1st Health Limited, incorporated in January this year.

Companies Office records also list Williams as presenting documents for the business.

However, Williams told Stuff: "I'm not anything to do with 1st Health Ltd." 

He said the business was his aunty's company and "she has listed me as a shareholder when she set it all up".

He then referred questions to his lawyer, Liz Bulger.

Bulger said neither she nor her client had any comment to make and in a text said Stuffs reporter should "desist from contacting" Williams for any reason.

"You are now harassing him and potentially committing an offence. Please take this as a warning that he will contact the police if it continues."

The registered office for 1st Health is a building on Buckleys Rd, Linwood.

The property manager for the building, Eddie Wongeoon, said a woman in her 40s and a young man, who she referred to as an apprentice health consultant, viewed the office late last year. They said they would lease it but this had not yet happened.

The office space remained vacant, Wongeoon said.

Stuart previously rented the old office block in 2014-2015 for Te Poaka Tipua Charitable Trust, set up to help poverty-stricken youths, particularly those in the eastern suburbs.

A Stuff investigation exposed links between the sex industry and the trust, with former sex workers frequenting the site. A website in 2015 advertised a male sex club called The Backroom at the trust's headquarters.

Wongeoon was unaware Stuart had previously rented the building and said he would no longer allow her to lease it. "It's quite fishy," he said.

Stuff has been unable to contact Stuart. When Stuff visited Stuart's listed address in Porirua, a man who answered the door said she was in Christchurch.

A Companies Office spokesman said its Integrity and Enforcement Team (IET) was now reviewing Stuart's suitability as a director.

If the team found any breaches "enforcement action will be considered".

Dr Samantha Murton, president of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, said she would be "deeply concerned" if GP services were being offered by an unqualified person.

Those impersonating a doctor could be prosecuted and the Medical Council would take such cases very seriously, Murton said.

Medical Council chief executive Joan Simeon said if Dr Kyle Jones did hold a PhD then they would be entitled to use the title Dr.

"If we had concerns that a person was holding themselves out to be a medical practitioner (doctor) then that would be a criminal offence and we would notify either the New Zealand police or the Ministry of Health."

Williams appeared in the Christchurch District Court on Monday last week for a case review hearing. He is charged with allegedly harassing liquidator Imran Kamal.

Williams, who had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charge, will have a judge-alone trial on April 15.

After declining to comment on the liquidation several times, Williams broke his silence during a "media advisory" last year, saying the company always intended to pay its bills.

"We were still starting up. We were still in the early stages of setting up our business.

"We had to get our building ready before we could actually operate to make the money."

The company was setting up a radio station in an apartment in Ferrymead and intended to make money through advertisements, he said.

Footage of various press conferences around the city were sent to an Australian media company, he said. All the money from that contract was used to pay for the building of the studio.

He disputed Kamal's list of creditors and said the company never had any debt with seven of the 31 creditors. He believed the company owed $87,000.