American Ireland Fund faces wait in receiving damages awarded in Texas court

Efforts by the American Ireland Fund (AIF) to obtain the $2.33 million (€2.12 million) it was awarded in damages in a fraud case at a Texas court in June are stalled.

In the AIF’s newly released annual report for 2022, a note states that in June this year, the fund “received a favourable verdict and was awarded damages of $830,000 in a Texas court civil case seeking relief from a former employee and her son”.

The note adds: “The jury concluded that the defendants engaged in a series of actions to commit acts of fraud, theft, breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy during the period 2015-2017. The jury also awarded exemplary damages to the fund totalling $1.5 million as well as its legal fees.”

The note further states that the fund “has also filed a motion with the court for an award of pre-judgment interest under Texas law”.

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It concludes: “Once the verdict is entered as a formal judgment by the court, and any appeal is completed, the fund will work with external counsel towards achieving the payment of these damages”.

However, the fund can’t yet move to seek payment of the damages. A spokeswoman for the AIF said late on Wednesday that “as of this date, The Ireland Funds America is awaiting the entry of a judgment, based on the jury’s verdict, by the court”.

In the civil case, Karla Stover and her son, Robert Joseph (RJ) Stover, accused of embezzling funds, had denied the allegations.

The new annual report for the AIF shows that last year, it made grant awards of $16.47 million which was down 7 per cent on the $17.7 million paid out in 2021.

The AIF is part of the Ireland Funds which was founded in 1976 by Sir Anthony O’Reilly and the late Dan Rooney, a former US ambassador to Ireland.

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