Dunne declares himself bankrupt in the US

Property developer Sean Dunne has listed several of the country's main banks as creditors in a bankruptcy filing made in the state of Connecticut in the United States.

The former property tycoon names State-owned AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank among more than 30 creditors listed in the court records filed late on Friday.

Mr Dunne estimated his liabilities at between $500 million (€390 million) and $1 billion (€780 million) and his assets at $1 million and $10 million in the court bankruptcy filing.

Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, the liquidated Stated-owned bank that acquired the loans of the Irish Nationwide Building Society, one of Mr Dunne's biggest lenders, and Certus, which manages the loan book of the former Bank of Scotland (Ireland), are also listed as creditors of the Co Carlow developer.

One of the boldest developers of the property bubble era, the developer was behind an ambitious project that became synonymous with the hubris of that period - the €379 million purchase and proposed redevelopment of the Jurys hotels site in Ballsbridge, Dublin which faltered at the planning stage.

Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, the Icelandic bank which co-funded Mr Dunne's purchase of the Ballsbridge hotels, is listed as a creditor in Mr Dunne's bankruptcy filing along with Ulster Bank, the lead bank financing the project.

Mr Dunne filed for voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy - known as liquidation bankruptcy that is popular with heavily indebted personal debtors in the US - more than six weeks after Ulster Bank was granted permission in the High Court in Dublin to serve bankruptcy proceedings on the developer over a €164 million debt.

By applying for bankruptcy in the US, Mr Dunne follows a path taken by former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm who filed for bankruptcy in the state of Massachusetts in 2010.

Debtors can emerge from bankruptcy with a fresh financial start after just 12 months in the US compared with being discharged after three years, at the earliest, in Ireland under the new bankruptcy regime.

Mr Drumm's discharge from bankruptcy, however, is being challenged by the liquidators of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, who manage the affairs of the former Anglo Irish Bank.

Mr Dunne lists his address at Indian Field Road in Greenwich, Connecticut on the bankruptcy filing. His attorney is James Berman of the firm Zeisler & Zeisler in nearby Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Court records say that bankruptcy attorney Richard Coan of Coan Lewendon Gulliver & Miltenberger, a firm in New Haven, Connecticut, has been appointed trustee in Mr Dunne's bankruptcy proceedings.

Other creditors listed by Mr Dunne include State agency IDA Ireland and local authorities, Dublin City Council, Wicklow County Council and Kildare County Council. The Revenue Commissioners and the US tax authorities, the Internal Revenue Services, are also listed among those owed money by Mr Dunne.

Another creditor is the former attorney general Paul Gallagher SC who has represented Mr Dunne's interests in legal proceedings in the High Court in Dublin.

Property-related businesses listed as creditors of Mr Dunne's include BKD Architects, quantity surveyors and project managers Bruce Shaw Partnership, estate agents CBRE and Colm McEvoy Auctioneers in Newbridge, Co Kildare.

Mr Dunne's bankruptcy filing creates complications for State loans agency, the National Asset Management Agency, and its legal action in Connecticut against the former property tycoon and his wife Gayle Killilea over his transfer of a half-share in a Swiss apartment to her and her US property dealings in the US.

Nama is owed €185 million by Mr Dunne, one of the States agency's top debtors, on foot of personal guarantees provided by the developer on Irish bank loans acquired by the State loans agency.

The agency claims that Mr Dunne's wife is using money from the sale of the Swiss apartment and Mr Dunne's money to redevelop properties in Greenwich, one of the wealthiest areas on the US east coast.