Former employment agency owner slapped with 8½ year ban
Wednesday, 24 June 2026
The owner of a failed employment agency that left creditors more than $2.8 million out of pocket has been banned from being a director or managing a company for 8½ years.
Trinity Employment Service, which had offices in Timaru and Rolleston, was put into liquidation in May 2024, and was still trading at the time.
Cassandra Hope Knox, the sole director held a 95% shareholding in the company, and registered a second agency, Elite Employment Limited, just three hours after Trinity was put into liquidation.
The liquidator of Trinity confirmed it had reported Knox to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) over potential Companies Act offences at the time of releasing the final report on Christmas Eve.
On Wednesday, a Companies Office spokesperson said Knox was one of six individuals prohibited for six years or more, by the Registrar of Companies under section 385 of the Companies Act, 1993.
The prohibitions were imposed in April and May after the registrar was satisfied that mismanagement had contributed to the company failures.
The prohibition would prevent Knox, and those listed alongside her, from being a company director or being involved in the promotion or management of companies.
Knox was banned for eight years and six months, from May 25, with Trinity and Elite both removed from the company register.
The spokesperson said Knox’s employment placement operation “continued trading without sufficient regard to financial pressures or creditor interests”.
Both companies had been liquidated at the request of Inland Revenue, tax debts were largely unpaid, with partial recovery of tax debt in one liquidation, they said.
Elite Employment was placed in liquidation in March last year, owing close to $50,000 to creditors.
In February last year, Knox admitted a charge of tax evasion in relation to the second company, Elite Employment Ltd, in the Christchurch District Court.
Former staff of Trinity Employment spoke to The Press in August last year with claims of manipulation, an unhappy work environment, and late wages blamed on the bank.
Knox won the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce Emerging Leader Award in 2022.
The spokesperson said the section of the Act was a “protective, forward-looking provision” which allows the Registrar to prohibit a person whose management contributed to the failure of a company.
“It helps protect the public and creditors, reinforces appropriate standards of company management, and supports confidence in New Zealand’s company regime.”
The maximum prohibition for directors in New Zealand is 10 years.
The last time this period of prohibition was given, was almost a decade ago.
Nelson businessman Robert Cottle was the first to be given the maximum 10-year ban for his negligence as the sole director of failed gold mining company Infratech Mining in August 2017.
The other individuals banned were:
James Clark, of Aztec Packaging Group Ltd, Aztec Impex Ltd, I Print on Demand 2021, The Caring Card Company 2022 Ltd - seven years, six months
Hale Patuavalu Tuiniue Huka, of Roof-Fit Ltd - eight years
Christopher Charles Rupe, of S.P.Q.R. Ltd - eight years, six months
Warren Graeme Sinclair, of Ready Homes Ltd, NZ Modular Homes Ltd, Isee Sales Ltd, Zartaj Design and Hosting Ltd - eight years, six months
Charles Lewis Innes, of Podular Housing Systems Ltd and Sanders Manufacturing Ltd - 10 years
Prohibition notices are published in the New Zealand Gazette and a person’s status could also be checked by searching their name on the Companies Register.