Four men to be sentenced Friday in relation to a multi-million euro investment fraud

By Eimear Dodd and Jessica Magee

Four men who conspired in a multi-million euro investment fraud over a decade ago are to be sentenced this Friday at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Before passing sentence, Judge Orla Crowe will read out almost 200 victim impact statements of former clients and investors of Custom House Capital, many of whom suffered devastating financial losses in the fraud which took place between 2008 and 2011.

The company’s former CEO Harry Cassidy (67), John Whyte (53), former Head of Private Clients and Paul Lavery (47), former Head of Finance, pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to defraud investors in and clients and customers of Custom House Capital Ltd (CHC) by intentionally misleading them as to where and/or how their assets had been placed, contrary to common law.

John Mulholland (73) of The Foxes Covert, Mount Juliet estate, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, pleaded guilty to one count of being neglectful in the discharge of his duty of as a non-executive director of CHC.

The court heard this was in relation to the commission by the company of acts of dishonestly by deception inducing clients to entrust funds to the company or to refrain from removing funds previously entrusted to the company with the intention of making gain for itself and causing loss to another.

All of the offences occurred within the State on dates between October 1, 2008 and July 15, 2011.

At an earlier hearing in April, Judge Orla Crowe said there was a lot of material that the court needed to review before finalising the case.

Cassidy of Clon Brugh, Aitkens Village, Stepaside, Co. Dublin, Whyte of Beechpark, Lucan, Co. Dublin, Lavery of Rafeenan, Ballynod, Co Monaghan and Mulholland were remanded on continuing bail.

A total of 197 victim impact statements were submitted to the court.

Five victim impact statements were read in full to the court, while extracts were also taken from a selection of other statements.

Separately, Ciara Kelleher (51), the firm’s then senior portfolio relationship manager, will face a re-trial in 2025, after a jury failed to reach a verdict on the charge she faced earlier this year.

Ms Kelleher of Blackhorse Ave, Dublin 7 has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiring with others to defraud investors, clients, and customers of Custom House Capital Ltd. by intentionally misleading them as to where or how their assets had been placed in the investment firm on dates between October 2008 and July 2011.