The Context
On 4 February 2026, the SFO filed 33 charges against Alexander Breingan, founder of Stripe Studios. The core transaction is a NZ$14.5 million gap. Breingan is alleged to have secured NZ$4.3 million in government screen rebates and NZ$10.2 million in fraudulent lending across 13 television programmes. The method was a simple formula: false representations plus forged documents equals funding. The 13 associated companies collapsed in March 2024, leaving a NZ$20+ million creditor deficit. The receiver’s report in March 2025 showed zero asset recovery. The audit trail ends in Los Angeles, where Breingan currently resides.
The Risk
The liability is personal, not corporate. The Companies Act 1993 imposes a duty on directors to act in good faith and in the best interests of the company. Submitting forged documents to secure public funds is a prima facie breach. It demonstrates *mens rea*—criminal intent. This may indicate a catastrophic failure of the director’s duty to prevent reckless trading. The SFO’s charges are against Breingan personally. The MBIE’s Integrity and Enforcement Team is separately investigating a potential directorship ban. The financial risk is absolute: personal liability for the NZ$14.5 million fraud, plus penalties. Reputational incineration is a secondary, guaranteed calculation.
The Control
Governance is a mathematical proof. The solution is a verifiable, multi-layered audit function for all funding applications, especially those involving public money. This requires segregation of duties: the person applying for the rebate must not be the sole person certifying the supporting documentation. Implement a mandatory secondary sign-off from an independent financial controller or the board audit committee for any state subsidy claim. Treat the application pack as a prospectus—every figure and representation must be traceable to source documentation. The internal audit function must have unfettered access to test these trails quarterly.
The Challenge
These are the critical questions you should be raising at the board table:
| Can you physically trace every figure in our last three government grant or rebate applications back to an original, unaltered bank statement, invoice, or contract? | |
| What is the exact, documented process that prevents a single individual from both preparing and authorising a funding submission? | |
| When did our audit committee last conduct a forensic-style, sample-based review of expenditure claimed against public subsidies, and what were the findings? |