Organised crime money laundering case adjourned

By Isabel Hayes

A man took part in organised crime money laundering within the State, including benefiting from a €500,000 An Post smishing scam, a court has heard.

When officers from the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau raided the home of Brandon Abrahams (33) in September 2024, they found a laptop containing “thousands and thousands” of Excel spreadsheet pages outlining people’s debit card information from around the world.

Abrahams had been making “sophisticated” and high quality fake UK driving licences and utility bills in different aliases, which he used to set up various accounts in financial institutions including An Post and the Credit Union, and which he also sold to other fraudsters, Detective Garda Sean Deignan told Diana Stuart SC, prosecuting.

A total of €147,230 which went through his various accounts over the relevant period, the court heard.

Abrahams, of Belvedere Place, Dublin 1, pleaded guilty to one count of participating or contributing to the activity of a criminal organisation contrary to section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006.

He pleaded guilty to a further nine offences including money laundering,  possessing proceeds of crime and possessing a false instrument. The offences occurred on dates in 2023 and 2024.

He has 55 previous convictions, mainly for road traffic offences as well as theft, drugs and criminal damage.

Abrahams was due to be sentenced last Friday (31st) but Judge Martina Baxter adjourned the matter to March 9^th next year for finalisation.

He benefitted from an An Post smishing scam in which €500,000 was stolen from about 30 accounts to benefit about 50 criminals, the court heard.

He also received €56,400 into an AIB account he set up under an alias along with various other amounts into other accounts.

He used money which was the proceeds of crime to pay for the down payment on a Mercedes and received finance for the same car through fraudulent means.

He bought himself and his partner flights to Turkey, leaving Aer Lingus at a loss of €450 under a “chargeback fraud”.

Defence counsel, Fiona Murphy SC, put it to the garda that Abrahams is originally from South Africa, to which the sergeant replied that gardaí had not been able to ascertain where he was originally from.

When questioned as to whether Abrahams has gambling and drug addictions, as he claimed, Det Gda Deignan said that gardaí carried out a thorough investigation of Abrahams and nothing in his profile suggested he had a gambling addiction.

“He was socialising where drugs were being taken but it was not serious,” Det Gda Deignan said. “There was no evidence of gambling whatsoever.”

In her plea of mitigation, Ms Murphy said Abrahams co-operated with gardaí from the outset and that his early guilty pleas, which were signed pleas from the District Court, saved the courts from a lengthy trial.

She said he had a troubled childhood in South Africa and dabbled in drugs and gambling which spiralled following the death of his father, with whom he had recently reconnected.

He is doing well in custody and plans to study a course at The Open University, the court heard.