Ben Hanssen has been elusive when this month asked questions concerning his financial dealings, but is no stranger to dealing with the media.
This month, the Otago Daily Times named Mr Hanssen as the bar owner who employed gang members to intimidate rivals, left staff unpaid, and who allegedly knew of concrete poured down the drain of a rival business.
Mr Hanssen was asked to comment on each allegation, but told the paper, ''I am not aware of any of [their claims].''
He accused the ODT of publishing the article on behalf of the police.
But this was not his first appearance in the media spotlight.
In February 2012, he fronted an interview with television programme Fair Go concerning Dunedin-based company Tech Brands, which sold tablets and smartphones over the internet.
Customers complained they did not receive the promised items after forking out thousands of dollars, just after the company's owner - Brian Isaksson - died following a fight in a Dunedin bar in late 2011.
Despite his death, the company continued to trade.
Mr Hanssen - a friend of the dead man - appeared on the consumer watchdog television show.
''I have no control over the company's ability to trade. I am not a stakeholder, I am not a director, I am not an employee. I am just a concerned friend,'' he told the programme.
A month before the show aired, the Commerce Commission told Mr Hanssen to take down the website, but he allegedly kept trading despite mounting orders and complaints.
The programme concluded that where the customers' money had gone was a mystery, and that information may have disappeared with the death of the company's owner.
Asked if he felt responsible, Mr Hanssen told the Fair Go reporter, ''I feel very responsible. I feel responsible in this situation because somebody has to sit and answer these questions. There are no winners here.''
A Commerce Commission spokesman told the ODT this month there was no investigation on the matter, as the complaints did not meet criteria.
Mr Hanssen also made national news headlines when he was the victim of defamatory social networking comments from another bar owner in May 2012.
The owner of a rival nightclub was involved in an altercation with a member of the public at Mr Hanssen's Monkey Bar in May 2012 and was later ejected.
Following that incident, homophobic comments were posted on Facebook.
In response, Mr Hanssen, who is gay, said he ''was absolutely repulsed by these comments''.
Mr Hanssen was involved in a spat with Dunedin City Council staff in December 2011, after the council started enforcing parking rules in an alleyway off Moray Pl, behind lower Stuart St.
He told the ODT at the time that three council staff threatened to tow a delivery vehicle unloading at his business, when it was not blocking anyone's access.
''It's a ludicrous situation,'' he said.
''A ludicrous waste of bureaucratic resource.''
He told the newspaper he was seeking legal advice.
And Mr Hanssen this month featured in the Greymouth Star, which updated his proposed $5 million redevelopment of a downtown Greymouth hotel precinct.
Greymouth businesses distanced themselves from the proposed redevelopment, which was to turn the Railway and Royal hotels into a dining and entertainment block complete with nightclub, restaurants and outdoor seating.
Mr Hanssen initially said the project would be finished by Labour Weekend this year.
In July, the Christchurch-based landlord of the Royal Hotel, Geoff Wakelin, said Mr Hanssen had not finalised a deal to purchase the building.
Then-publican Mark Gillespie said he had not reached an agreement with Mr Hanssen either: ''The 'dream team' is all about dreams. Nothing's happening.''
The Royal Hotel closed in August.
Meanwhile, Railway Hotel owner Grant Olsen had washed his hands of the project, the Greymouth Star reported.
''I'm just doing my business,'' he said.
''As far as I'm concerned, with the development down here, the Railway won't be a part of it.''
