Steven Quan Li and Fen Wang allegedly made about $4.698 million for writing assignments for students.

A network of '"ghostwriters" were used by a husband and wife team to write university assignments sold to Chinese-speaking students in New Zealand so they could pass papers, a court has heard.

A trial is underway at the High Court in Auckland against the directors of what the Crown alleges was a well-organised commercial cheating service.

In 2013, a Stuff investigation uncovered the business' practices, the court was told.

LAWRENCE SMITH/STUFF A trial is underway at the High Court in Auckland against a husband and wife who ran a company for Chinese-speaking students to order assignments.

Assignments4U used tutors, some outside New Zealand, to write assignments ordered by Chinese-speaking students attending New Zealand universities, polytechnics and private institutions, the court heard.

The tutors were paid per assignment and had specialist subjects.

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and the police launched an inquiry following the Stuff investigation.

During that investigation, Stuff ordered an essay for a first-year university course from the company, which marketed itself under a Chinese-language website called Assignment4U, run from a unit at 88 Cook St in Auckland.

From 2006 to 2008, Assignment4U Consultant Ltd was a registered company directed and owned by Steven Quan Li, the court heard.

More than $1.1 million was paid to Li and his wife Fan Yang for allegedly hiring "ghostwriters" to complete assignments for paying students, the court heard.

In 2014, the High Court granted restraining orders against eight Auckland properties linked with the business network.

Crown prosecutor Mark Harborow, acting on behalf of the Police Commissioner, told the court on Monday that Li and Yang owned and benefited financially from Assignments4U from 2006 and 2013.

"The company sold assignments in a pre-written format for students to hand in to instructors as if they were their own work," Harborow said.

Li and Yang acknowledged they were involved with the company but said they became less involved in the business in 2007 after Li began to focus on his accounting work, Harborow said.

He said the company changed its name in 2007 to Atan Ltd and then again in 2010 to Ateama Ltd.

"At that point Li said he certainly had no involvement from then on and the company was sold and all he did was accountancy work," Harborow told the court.

"The commissioner says that however, from 2006 to 2013, Li was the controlling person behind Assignments4U and, together with his wife, benefited from the company profits."

The profit was estimated at about $4.698 million with the average assignment costing $406.

Li and Yang are also facing charges for mortgage fraud for an address on Cook St, Auckland.

Two others are also on trial for mortgage fraud and mis-representation regarding asset positions.

Harborow said students would go to the Cook St office, or email and supply the company details of the essay topic, along with log in details to the education institute.

"Assignments4U would take the information and contact the tutor or a ghostwriter with the topic, and the ghostwriter, with an aid from a textbook, would write the 'solution' or essay," he said.

Once complete, the assignment would be given back to the company, which would supply it back to the student.

Harborow said each assignment would vary in price depending on urgency, grade and word count.

"The Chinese students expect to pay more if they're guaranteed an A-grade," Li said in an affidavit read to the court by Harborow.

Students would then be credited if they did not achieve their desired grade, but would have to supply a copy of the marked assignment, Harborow said.

Harborow said the undercover investigation by Stuff was the reason the case was in court.

The business and the way it was run constituted numerous criminal offences, Harborow said.

He alleged the company, via its human actors, committed forgery, used forged documents and provided cheating services.

The students who engaged with the company also offended by dishonestly using a document and using forged documents, he said.

"The Commissioner says that Assignments4U derived a benefit from the students' offending indirectly by virtue of supplying the assignments," Harborow said.

Harborow told the court some ghostwriters and students had concerns about giving evidence.

"People at the top of trees like these rely on people lower down with fear and prevent them coming to light," he said.

On Monday, David Jones QC acting on behalf of Li and Yang questioned officer in charge Detective Craig Smith about a number of affidavits he'd provided.

One affidavit included evidence of a letter received by one "ghost writer" who indicated the cheating was on an enormous scale.

Jones called the "ghost writer" a conspiracy theorist.

Smith agreed that the letter was somehow sensationalised.

"During the months of May and June 2007 he performed complete ghost writing on four assignments submitted by students," Jones said.

"He's alleging a systemic fraud within the universities and a cover-up," Jones.

The trial is set to last four weeks in front of Justice Mark Woolford.