Lauer can keep New Zealand ranch
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Former “Today” show host Matt Lauer can keep a lakeside ranch in New Zealand after authorities there concluded Friday there wasn’t enough evidence he’d breached a “good character” condition.
Lauer has been accused of sexual misconduct by at least three women and was fired from NBC last November.
His termination triggered an investigation by New Zealand authorities, who require foreign buyers of important assets to be of good character. The provision is broad and includes criminal convictions as well as anything else that authorities decide reflects poorly on an owner’s integrity.
Lauer last year purchased a lease for the Hunter Valley Station, a 26,500 acre farm near the ski resort of Queenstown which advertising material described as a “truly majestic setting,” which adjoins a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The property includes a five-bedroom lakefront homestead as well as several huts, about 13,000 cattle and merino sheep, and runs alongside a river that’s filled with trout and salmon.
New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office said that as part of its investigation, it had taken sworn statements from Lauer and had been in touch with NBC.
