GAA star under investigation was hit with debt judgment

A GAA star, who is under investigation for alleged fraud and deception, was subjected to a debt judgment for tens of thousands of euro secured by a businessman who gave him money.

The judgment is believed to be just one debt owed by the former player to friends, acquaintances and business associates who gave him money ranging from four-figure sums to more significant amounts.

The suspect is being investigated by the Garda with detectives from the National Economic Crime Bureau interviewing and taking statements from witnesses who have alleged that the individual sought the money on claims he needed money for cancer treatment abroad.

The total sums involved are estimated to run to a significant six-figure sum.

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The multimillionaire businessman secured the judgment against the former GAA star, who cannot be named for legal reasons, early last year. It is understood that the businessman was also told by the sports star that he needed money for cancer treatment.

Others have come forward to make complaints about the retired player.

The individual made approaches to people involved in the GAA and other sporting circles and through business links and within his local community.

Detectives are understood to have been scrutinising the sports star’s bank account and discovered money moving by bank transfer to him.

One couple gave the individual €5,000 shortly after the first Covid-19 lockdown was lifted in 2021 after the former player told the husband that he was suffering from multiple myeloma, the same cancer his wife was being treated for, and needed the money for treatment in the US.

The man’s wife believes that the former GAA star targeted and groomed her husband into handing over cash by claiming to have the same cancer that she was being treated for.

She described the former athlete’s behaviour as “very concerning” and “manipulative.”

He claimed to her that he was entitled to cancer treatment in the US as an elite sportsman.

The couple later learned that the man had approached a number of other people and secured large sums from them. The wife does not believe that the former GAA star was suffering from cancer but used the story as an emotional ruse to extract money from them and others.

“He said he needed the money to get his treatment for the multiple myeloma and he could only get the treatment in America, in Seattle, and he couldn’t come back to Ireland. He said he started his treatment and was going to keep his treatment going in America,” she told The Irish Times.

Later in 2021, in an attempt to recover the money from the star, the woman threatened to share details of what happened with the media. He later repaid her the €5,000 in cash after she repeatedly sought it.

The woman said she knows of a number of others who also gave the individual money and have been unable to get it back.

Asked about the investigation, a spokesman for the Garda said it did not comment on statements provided to third parties or based on descriptive information about an individual’s employment, past or present.