He pushed for his client to have two years shaved off his sentence.

But in its recent decision, the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal, instead finding Judge Kirstin Lummis’ original prison sentence “justified”.

Justice Walker agreed Liu’s operation was “expansive” and involved him recruiting and directing others, along with co-ordinating importations of methamphetamine.

“It is also apparent that the financial rewards enjoyed by [Liu] were significant.”

Judge Lummis’ starting point of 20 years was “stern … yet available”, and the four-year uplift for the money laundering and firearm was also “justified”.

As for the guilty plea, Justice Walker said while 15% was available, the reduction was at the judge’s discretion, but noted the deduction for bail conditions was “generous”.

‘Ferraris, Porsche, and the properties’

The couple owned a $365,000 Ferrari 488 GTB under Hao’s name before trading it in for a more expensive Ferrari 488 Pista.

Social media photos showed more luxury cars, including a Porsche, and what appeared to be thousands of dollars spent on a single Lotto Powerball draw.

The St Heliers house they lived in was bought for $1.8 million, but the house in nearby Kohimarama, where Liu kept some of their drug stash, was bought for $3.45m.

Liu leased a St Johns warehouse, which operated as a clandestine methamphetamine lab and MDMA pill factory.

Two pill presses inside the factory helped supply an “unknown commercial quantity” of then well-known “Pink Porsche” MDMA pills, but authorities noted the number at the very least exceeded 15,000.

‘The dangerous Pink Porsche ecstasy pills’

The Police National Organised Crime Group began investigating Liu in 2020, as the New Zealand drug market was inundated with the popular but dangerous “Pink Porsche” ecstasy pills.

Court documents stated the investigation included intercepted communications between Liu and his underlings and a covert CCTV camera outside his warehouse.

Liu and others were seen carrying equipment and material consistent with methamphetamine manufacturing, such as acetone and caustic soda, as they walked into and out of the facility. The Pink Porsche tablets were created from MDMA he had sourced in powder and crystal form.

Once pressed, Liu packaged the pills into various commercial-sized dealing amounts/weights with a minimum of 1000 pills at a time and arranged to supply them via encrypted apps, including Wickr.

Investigators flagged numerous conversations in the days leading up to Liu’s October 2020 arrest.

“Hi bro can I come pick up 1000 pinks,” one person asked Liu before amending his request to “1200″ on October 23.

Liu ultimately pleaded guilty to importing, manufacturing, and possession for supply of nearly 6kg of meth, MDMA offending involving 19,260 pills and 6.1kg of powder, 2.6kg of ephedrine, possession of a Bruni pistol and ammunition, and money laundering $203,148 of cash deposits plus two Ferrari vehicles and a Ford 150 Shelby Super Snake vehicle.

Liu’s wife, 36, initially faced serious drug offending charges as well, but they were withdrawn after Liu took responsibility.

Her role centred around assisting him with drug trade tasks, including receiving payments from customers.

In the Auckland District Court, Judge Kirsten Lummis took a starting point of 24 years for all the charges combined, before allowing 40% in credit for various factors, including his guilty pleas, his background and his rehabilitation efforts.

She declined to impose a minimum term of imprisonment.

Liu was also ordered as part of his sentence to pay $230,000 in restitution to the Wellesley College Trust, which owned the warehouse he leased for the drug factory, and $100,000 to the trust’s insurance company.

Judge Lummis said she expected the money to come from the “considerable amount of property” that was restrained by authorities after Liu’s arrest.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.