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Ex-psychic jailed for seven years for ‘devious’ money laundering of €1.6m

A former psychic convicted of the money laundering of €1.6m has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years.

Simon Gold (54) had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to charges including money laundering, theft, deception and control of false instruments on dates between January 1, 2010 and October 22, 2012.

After over two weeks of evidence, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on 20 counts after deliberating for over 12 hours. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on a single count of deception relating to €28,000 transferred by a Co Galway farmer to a bank account linked to Gold.

While passing sentence today Judge Martin Nolan said that Gold was a very intelligent man and that “these were devious and well-thought-out crimes”.

Judge Nolan said that two of the Irish victims in this case were “desperate” men “at the end of their tether” and that Gold took advantage of them. He said Gold caused these men distress and embarrassment.

He said these were crimes involving “gross dishonesty” and that while Gold was a man of enterprise and intelligence, he “applies his acumen to crime”.

Judge Nolan sentenced him to seven-and-a-half years imprisonment for both of the counts of money laundering. He also sentenced him to three years in prison for each of the three deception charges for which he was convicted.
“These were devious and well-thought-out crimes.” Judge Martin Nolan

He ordered that all sentences to run concurrently. He backdated the sentence to when Gold first went into custody – May 18, 2018.

Detective Garda Ciaran Cummins told Lorcan Staines SC, prosecuting, that in the UK Gold changed his name by deed poll from Niall O’Donoghue. Gold also represented himself as Simon Gould, Stephen Gould and Simon Magnier.

Dt Gda Cummins said that Gold operated a number of companies, including Anglo Irish Global, Irish Nationwide Bank, Belgravia Consultants Ltd and Elite Banking Group – none of which were actually banks.

When investigating the money-laundering offences, gardaí seized Gold’s computer and found evidence on it of earlier frauds committed against three Irish men who sought private financing following the recession in the late 2000s.

“Mr Gold seemed to prey on people who were in severe financial difficulty,” said Dt Gda Cummins.

Gardaí also discovered recordings of phone conversations between Gold and another man from around the time of the money-laundering offences.

Dt Gda Cummins said that during the recordings, Gold could be heard to say that he could facilitate moving the money, but that it had to be done through Simon Gold and then “Simon Gold will disappear”.

He can be heard to say that the first flag that is raised “we’re f**ked”, they will freeze the account and we will get nothing”. He said it does not make sense to “pilfer” the account immediately.

Gold – with an address of Augharan, Aughavas, Co Leitrim – has 17 previous convictions, 12 of which were in the UK. These include convictions for burglary, theft, larceny and escaping from lawful custody.

Dominic McGinn SC, defending, said there were 20 years between these convictions and this offending. He said Gold was raised by his grandmother and has a son with whom he has very little contact.

Mr McGinn said that money laundering was often linked to terrorism or drug trafficking and that his client’s crimes were not in that category.

During the trial the court heard from Gold’s victims, including Frank Gleeson, who was a developer living outside Athy, Co Kildare. In 2008 Mr Gleeson became involved in construction in Portugal.

Mr Gleeson bought a site in Portugal and raised €1m from a Portuguese bank to start building 10 apartments, with the intention being to raise further funds by selling them and then building more apartments. He did not sell any and the bank started looking for repayments.

He needed £300,000 in order to secure a loan of £3m. He talked with Gold, who said he could secure the funding for a bridging loan – provided he paid a deposit of £30,000 up front.

Some time after transferring the money, Gold told him another man had run off with the money and that he was going to pay him back £10,000 out of his own pocket. He never got the remaining £20,000 back.

In a victim impact statement, which was read out in court, Mr Gleeson said the cash he gave was the last savings he had. He said that he had been away from his family for five years working in Saudi Arabia.

“In a victim impact statement, which was read out in court, Frank Gleeson said the cash he gave was the last savings he had. He said that he had been away from his family for five years working in Saudi Arabia.

The court heard that Jody Ryan was involved in the quarry business in Limerick and that his business was doing badly between 2008 and 2011. He could not get a loan from an Irish bank due to the recession.

Mr Ryan got the phone number of a man named Simon Magnier and through him he sought a loan of €4m from Anglo Irish Global Ltd. He had borrowings of €15m and was trying to pay back the banks.

Magnier told him he first had to pay a £10,000 deposit “to get the loan started”. He paid that deposit, but “not a euro” of the loan ever came through and that Magnier became difficult to contact afterwards.

Mr Ryan got in contact with Magnier once or twice after making the payment and Magnier said it would be all sorted out. Magnier sounded like a bank manager on the phone and he thought he was going to solve his problems at the time.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, Mr Ryan said he thought he had done good work to get the loan, but “it turned out to be a big con”. He said he had lost everything and that Gold nearly drove him to suicide.

The court heard that Eamonn O’Toole was a dairy farmer in Co Tipperary and that he was seeking a loan in 2011 to prepare for the abolition of milk quotas. His friend Jody Ryan gave him the phone number of Simon Magnier and told him Magnier was willing to invest in projects.

Mr O’Toole wanted a loan of €250,000, but Magnier said he did not do loans of that size and offered a loan of €1m instead. He was told to transfer £10,000 to Anglo Irish Global Ltd and he did so.

“In a victim impact statement read out in court, Jody Ryan said he thought he had done good work to get the loan, but “it turned out to be a big con”. He said he had lost everything and that Gold nearly drove him to suicide.

He understood that a man named Niall O’Donoghue was the person who would manage his loan, but he never spoke to O’Donoghue and said that it “would be easier to get through to Donald Trump”. The loan never came through.

Regarding the £10,000, he said if he had given it to St Vincent de Paul he would feel happy about it and the whole situation had been an education where he went from “infants to six class” in a short time.

In a victim impact statement, which was read out in court, Mr O’Toole said that he completed work on his farm and when no loan was forthcoming he was put under extreme stress and lost his good standing in the community.

The court heard that Kurt Lauridsen was a Danish businessman who was put in touch with a German lawyer named Dr Bodo Baars, who told him about an investment opportunity.

Mr Lauridsen transferred €1.6m into an Ulster Bank account of Anglo Irish Global in two tranches of €800,000. He thought that Anglo Irish Global was an Irish bank and that the money could not be moved from the account without the signature of both himself and Mr Baars.

However, Gold had control of the account and transferred approximately €675,000 of the first tranches of €800,000 to various accounts, some also controlled by him, within days of it arriving in the Ulster Bank account.

The account was frozen when the second tranches of €800,000 was transferred into the account. The money remains frozen in the account at present.

The court heard that Mr Lauridsen did not wish to make a victim impact statement.

Irish Independent

End of an era: Titanic yard Harland and Wolff to file for insolvency today

Harland and Wolff – the Belfast shipyard that built the Titanic – was put into administration yesterday after its bankrupt Norwegian owner failed to find a buyer and calls for its nationalisation were rebuffed.

The shipyard, whose towering yellow cranes dominate the Belfast skyline, has been occupied by workers fearful for their jobs since last week.

They said yesterday they would block administrators from entering the site.

A spokesman for Harland and Wolff said accountancy firm BDO was appointed as administrators. The company will file for insolvency in the High Court in Belfast today.

The business was put up for sale last year by Norwegian parent Dolphin Drilling, which filed for bankruptcy in June.

Opened in 1861, Harland and Wolff employed more than 30,000 people in its WWII heyday and remains a potent symbol of Belfast’s past as an industrial engine of the British empire.

It has been in decline for more than half a century, however, and now employs just 130 full-time workers, specialising in energy and marine engineering projects – although it hires in large numbers of contractors when it secures work.

“It’s a sad day. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said a 54-year-old worker with 38 years’ service at the plant, who declined to give his name.

He said he understood all workers had been given notice of redundancy.

The workers locked themselves into the yard last week and are taking turns occupying key buildings in a bid to take control of a process they fear will deprive them of their jobs.

They voted yesterday to continue with the occupation, with union representative Joe Passmore saying it will continue for “as long as it takes”.

John McDonnell, finance spokesman for the British Labour Party, visited the yard yesterday and called for the state to step in and renationalise it.

“We know this is a viable concern, we know the government has naval contracts it can put here to ensure the long-term future.

“It would not be difficult today for [Prime Minister] Boris Johnson to say he will give this yard a future,” Mr McDonnell said. “If you close now you lose the skills, you lose the future.”

A British government spokesman said the fate of the yard, which was state-owned from 1975 to 1989, was a commercial issue.

Susan Fitzgerald, an official at trade union Unite, said she was concerned by reports the yard might be sold by administrators without liabilities such as pensions and workers’ contracts, adding: “This would be a cynical move designed to jettison jobs.”

Irish Independent

Thousands of penalty points may be wiped out as law is challenged

Thousands of penalty points and convictions for speeding could be wiped out if a High Court challenge to legislation succeeds.

Dublin man Liam Kearney was convicted, fined and had five penalty points added to his driving licence for a speeding offence. But his lawyers told a High Court judge that parts of the 2010 Road Traffic Act were unconstitutional.

Mr Kearney, of Roebuck Castle, Clonskeagh, has brought the challenge after being convicted in the District Court for speeding on September 19, 2017. He lost an appeal to the Dublin Circuit Court last month but had the fine reduced from €400 to €80.

Barrister Brendan Hennessy, counsel for Mr Kearney, told Mr Justice Seamus Noonan his client had not received the initial fixed charge notice which would have allowed him time to pay any fine, thereby avoiding any prosecution. He accepted Mr Kearney had received a summons with the second fixed charge notice.

The second fixed charge notice said that if an amount 100pc greater than the original fixed charge were paid, the prosecution would be discontinued.

Mr Hennessy said that, as a result of not having received the initial fixed charge notice, his client had been denied the chance to pay a lower charge and avoid a conviction. He felt he was being prejudiced through no fault of his own.

Mr Hennessy, who appeared with John Shanley Solicitors, told the court that an ex-parte application seeking to quash the Circuit Court conviction was being brought before the High Court.

Mr Hennessy told Judge Noonan that because Mr Kearney did not receive the original fixed charge notice a prosecution should not have been initiated.

Despite this, the Circuit Court was obliged under sections of the 2010 Road Traffic Act to convict Mr Kearney and that part of the Act that was being challenged was incompatible with provisions of the Constitution.

Counsel said a section of the act offended the principles of fairness, rationality and proportionality. Defendants charged with the same offence may receive different penalties owing to circumstances outside their control, he said.

In his proceedings against the DPP, the Justice Minister and the Attorney General, Mr Kearney seeks an order quashing his conviction.

He also seeks declarations that certain sections of the 2010 Road Traffic Act are invalid having regard to Articles 38 and 40 of the Irish Constitution.

Permission to bring a challenge by way of judicial review was granted by Judge Noonan and the matter was adjourned until November.

Irish Independent

The High Court has imposed a fine of €111,000 over the publication of an article which led to the collapse of a rape trial.

Ms Justice Miriam O’Regan made the order against the publishers of the Irish Independent, who admitted the piece printed last November was in contempt of court.

The judge said the contempt was serious, but accepted there was no intention on the part of the newspaper to interfere in the administration of justice. She imposed the fine on Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd following an application from the DPP.

The article, an analysis piece on the treatment of complainants, was part of a package dealing with the aftermath of the Cork rape trial. That trial came to international attention after the complainant’s choice of underwear was referred to by the defence.

The article made reference to an ongoing trial taking place in Dublin and appeared a day after the jury was sent out to deliberate on a verdict.

The court heard the newspaper was unaware the jury was out when the article was published.

In her decision, Ms Justice O’Regan said the jury in the Dublin case was discharged due to “potential contamination” as a result of the article.

The judge said it was a “very serious” matter as it had “a catastrophic effect” on the trial process. She said it was clear from the article that the trial was ongoing and this was “the real significant feature”.

Ms Justice O’Regan said in her view what occurred was “an egregious event” and that the headline figure for the fine should be €175,000. However, she significantly discounted this after taking account of a number of mitigating factors.

The judge accepted there was an element of public interest involved and no intention to interfere in the administration of justice.

She noted the remorse and contrition demonstrated by the respondent, the prompt removal of the article from the newspaper’s website, an early plea of guilt and an offer to pay the costs of the trial.

Ms Justice O’Regan said the system in place at the time for the review and clearance of articles was “entirely inadequate”. However, she noted there was now a systems recheck in place.

While the newspaper took legal advice from Fanning and Kelly Solicitors, and followed it before the article was published, the judge was only prepared to give a slight discount for this. She said statutory reporting restrictions should be known to all journalists and responsibility cannot be offloaded on to a lawyer.

The court heard the costs of the collapsed trial have already been paid by the publisher and that it also offered to cover the costs of the contempt proceedings.

Irish Independent

Gardaí and security staff had to spring into action when a violent fracas broke out between up to 20 people in the Four Courts, when it is claimed the defendant in a defamation action was attacked and injured.

The individuals involved had attended an action brought by a London-based Nigerian businesswoman, Rosala Uvbi Mku-Atu, who claims she has been defamed and threatened in social media posts by Ireland-based Ester Esabod Aboderin.

Shortly before the case was due to be heard by Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds, a violent fracas, involving up to 20 individuals, broke out in the area between the Four Courts Round Hall and the Supreme Court.

Court staff had to call on gardaí to help them restore order. A garda, supported by the Court Services’ own staff, then escorted several people out of the Four Courts.

independent.ie for full story

Mortgage application forged by couple

A couple have been spared jail after forging documents to apply for a mortgage because they believed they would never otherwise qualify for a housing loan.

Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin said Clare Ellis (34) and Gareth Boyle (32) did not realise they were engaging in criminal activity in what was “not a highly sophisticated” effort to deceive a bank.

Sentencing them to community service, the judge described the engaged couple’s case as “highly unusual”.

The judge said she also recognised “the pressure and intolerable stress” placed on many families trying to pay for housing.

Ellis and Boyle, both of Gurteen Avenue, Ballyfermot, had pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to a charge of attempting to obtain services by deception from KBC Bank. The couple, who have two young children, were looking to buy the home of a deceased relative.

Detective Garda James Walker said Ms Ellis had completed an application form for a €239,000 mortgage in the Maynooth branch of KBC on March 29, 2016 and also provided a P60, payslips and a salary certificate.

However, a KBC official became suspicious about the validity of the documents and gardaí were notified. Det Gda Walker said they were “extremely cooperative and contrite” when he called to their home on August 14, 2016.

The court heard they admitted the documents were false but explained although they could afford the loan repayments they knew they would have difficulty in obtaining an actual mortgage.

Det Gda Walker said the couple had obtained the services of a “creative accountant” who was now the subject of a wider Garda investigation.

Irish Independent

Man withdrew and spent €58,000 lodged to his bank account by mistake

A man who spent €58,000 mistakenly lodged into his bank account by a stockbroking firm has been given further time to raise compensation.

Keith O’Connor (51) appeared before Cork Circuit Criminal Court on a single charge of theft.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin adjourned sentencing until November 14 after being told O’Connor was continuing to raise compensation for the firm involved.

A further €1,000 was lodged in court, with total compensation of almost half the initial amount involved now successfully raised.

Judge Ó Donnabháin had earlier this year warned O’Connor of Kilnap Green, Farranree, Co Cork, that his contributions from the witness box had simply amounted to “digging a bigger hole” for himself.

O’Connor acknowledged he had spent the €58,000 which had been mistakenly lodged into his account by the stockbroking firm.

The defendant – who first appeared before the court last year – was adamant he had not set out to defraud anyone.

“I have had nothing but trouble since that money landed in my account,” O’Connor said. “I did not need that money – I did not ask for that money.”

More than €21,000 in compensation has now been paid in various lodgements.

The court previously heard from Det Garda Malcolm Walsh that on March 29, 2016, €58,000 was mistakenly lodged in the defendant’s account by the stockbroking firm.

O’Connor had previously purchased shares through a firm of stockbrokers. In a transfer error, funds which should have been paid to the account of another client was instead transferred to O’Connor’s account.

When the error was discovered, contact was made with O’Connor by the firm.

However, the defendant did not engage with the firm and instead O’Connor almost immediately withdrew the entire sum from his account.

Irish Independent

Tourist gets €67,000 for stairs fall in museum

An Australian tourist who injured his leg when he slipped and rolled down stone stairs at the National Museum of Ireland has been awarded almost €67,000 by a High Court judge.

Warren Baldwin (70), from Revesby, New South Wales, ruptured a leg tendon in the accident.

Ms Justice Bronagh O’Hanlon said the Dublin museum’s Portland stone steps had been shiny and slippery and he had suffered significant trauma, inconvenience and expense.

The accident occurred on June 5, 2016, on the second day of Mr Baldwin’s trip to Ireland with his wife.

It was caused by negligence in failing to provide a railing for a person to hold onto the entire way down the seven-step staircase, the judge said.

The pensioner fell on the third step from the bottom.

The judge accepted the contention that because the railing stopped before the end of the staircase there was a tendency for people to move towards the centre portion.

The steps date to 1890, when the Kildare Street building was built.

The wrought-iron bannister topped by a wooden rail terminates at the third-last step where it joins a stone balustrade.

Ms Justice O’Hanlon found that had there been an adequate and safe handrail on the steps in question, Mr Baldwin would not have suffered the injury.

The museum failed in its duty to take reasonable care to ensure his safety, she said, awarding Mr Baldwin €66,989.

The historical institution contended the stairs were free from defects and there was one handrail.

It also pointed out more than 470,000 people visited the museum in 2016, the year of the accident, and Mr Baldwin was the only person who fell on the stairs.

Irish Independent

Expert tells €420,000 personal injury hearing ‘two cars never made contact’

Seven personal injury actions for up to a combined €420,000 from a ‘rear-ending’ road crash have been dismissed or withdrawn after a motor assessor said the two cars never collided.

At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Gerald Keys dismissed four personal injury actions and three more were withdrawn from the alleged crash between a Ford Focus and a Nissan Almera in the village of Inagh, Co Clare, on March 13, 2014.

In dismissing the lead personal injury case by driver of the Almera, Sarah Warren (22) of Ballycar, Newmarket on Fergus, Co Clare, Judge Keys said he was not satisfied the impact described by her was consistent with the damage caused to the two cars.

Counsel for the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland (MIBI), Henry Downing SC, said the claim was “a set-up”.

However, counsel for Ms Warren, Patrick Whyms BL, said: “No finding of fraud has been made and that is the beginning and the end of it.”

Judge Keys agreed, saying: “I am not saying there is fraud.”

Three of Ms Warren’s passengers sued for personal injuries as did two she had never met before, friends of her then boyfriend who was a front seat passenger.

Judge Keys said: “I don’t want to be over-critical but Ms Warren is very naive to find herself in a situation like this where passengers were picked up in very, very suspicious circumstances and it so happened there was a crash.”

Motor assessor for the MIBI Liam Cotter said: “These two cars never made contact.”

He said there was no paint transfer between the cars and it was likely the damage to Ms Warren’s car was due to it being reversed into a pole. He said the damage to the Ford was consistent with it being driven over a traffic island.

Ms Warren denied reversing her car into a pole and said it had been rear-ended.

After the judge dismissed Ms Warren’s personal injury case, three other actions from the same incident were withdrawn. A further three cases where dismissed when the plaintiffs failed to show up.

Irish Independent

€710,000 payout as HSE apologises over stroke error

The HSE has apologised in the High Court to a 69-year-old woman who suffered a major stroke after she was discharged from a hospital without her blood thinning medication.

Mary Moss continued “unknowingly for six weeks” without her anti-coagulants, suffered a major stroke and is now disabled.

In a court statement, the HSE apologised to Ms Moss and her family for any “shortcomings” in treatment at Sligo University Hospital.

It said it also regretted the impact on Ms Moss and her family.

The apology was read as a settlement of the action which was approved by the court with a €710,000 payment, plus annual care for the rest of her life in the region of €250,000 a year.

Des O’Neill SC, for Ms Moss, said she had suffered a stroke in 2010 and recovered well. In February last year she “took a turn” and her anti-thinning medication was changed in hospital but the medication was not included on her prescription on her discharge.

She continued “unknowingly for six weeks” without the medication before she suffered a stroke.

In the context of a “catastrophe”, Mr O’Neill said Ms Moss has made a significant recovery but is currently in the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dún Laoghaire. Her family plan to have her return home to Ballymote, Co Sligo, as soon as possible.

Outside court, Leanne Moss said she was relieved her mother’s care is going to be looked after every year and they won’t have to worry about it from now on.

She said her mother, who suffers from left side paralysis, also has to use a wheelchair.

The family’s solicitor, Roger Murray, said it was a case tailor-made for a periodic payment order.

“Thanks to a successful mediation, the family can now concentrate on getting the best possible care for their mother, and moving her home to the west where she is happiest,” he said.

Irish Independent