Four men including one man from Co Monaghan who conspired in a multi-million euro investment fraud over a decade ago are to be sentenced this Friday at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Judge Orla Crowe had indicated previously, that prior to imposing sentence, she would read all 197 victim impact statements of former clients and investors of Custom House Capital (CHC), many of whom suffered devastating financial losses as a result of the conspiracy.
The company's former CEO, 67-year-old Harry Cassidy; John Whyte (53), former Head of Private Client; and 47-year-old Paul Lavery with an address in Rafeenan, Ballinode who is a former Head of Finance with the company pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to defraud investors, clients and customers by intentionally misleading them on where and how their assets had been placed, contrary to common law.
73-year-old John Mulholland of 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.
A total of 197 victim impact statements were submitted to the court. Five victim impact statements were read in full while extracts were taken from the 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.
