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Fake Tahitian prince admits fraud in Australia

by AFP
March 19, 2013 , 12 : 25 pm
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A headshot of Hohepa Morehu-Barlow, also known as Joel Barlow, age 36, who is wanted for alleged fraud. A man who led a playboy lifestyle while claiming to be a Tahitian prince pleaded guilty to embezzling 16.6 million USD from an Australian health department. Photo - AFP

Canberra: A man who led a playboy lifestyle while claiming to be a Tahitian prince pleaded guilty on Tuesday to embezzling Aus$16 million (US$16.6 million) from an Australian health department. New Zealand-born Hohepa Morehu-Barlow, also known as Joel Barlow, admitted eight offences including aggravated fraud as an employee and forgery in the Brisbane District Court.

The charges relate to the 37-year-old defrauding the state government when he worked for Queensland Health between 2007 and 2011. "The funds diverted by (Morehu-Barlow) were public monies earmarked... to support charities and other community groups," prosecutor Todd Fuller told the court, the Brisbane Courier-Mail reported. "The money was used to fund a lavish lifestyle... (for a so-called) Tahitian prince forced to work to gain his (royal) inheritance."

The court heard that Morehu-Barlow regularly signed bank documents using the letters HRH, short for His Royal Highness. When he was arrested in 2011, police found a trove of luxury goods including a fake crown, in his exclusive waterfront apartment, allegedly funded by his theft. Many of the hundreds of items seized were auctioned earlier this month, including a life-size horse lamp, a Hermes saddle, a Chanel black wristwatch and a Louis Vuitton surf board. The prosecution is seeking a jail sentence of between 14 and 16 years.

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