Crown prosecutor Simon Foote QC opened the case to the jury on Thursday, saying the trial was about an influential businessman who used his powerful position in criminal ways . He indecently assaulted three young men who have come to him for help with their . endeavours, he said. Foote told the jury they would hear evidence the businessman and others made several attempts to convince one of the complainants to drop his complaint. He is charged with indecently assaulting a male in 2000 or 2001, another male in February 2008, and another in 2016. All assaults allegedly took place at his house in Auckland. Foote told the jury the first complainant had been invited to the house to discuss business, but the businessman led him to a bedroom and asked him to come and lie down on the bed and cuddle .