John Carway came to prominence in 1994 when he took control of CountyGlen, a small shell company quoted on the Irish Stock Exchange. An inspector appointed by the High Court found that he was the central figure in a £1 million (€1.27 million) fraud at the company.
It included the use of CountyGlen's own money by Mr Carway to buy a controlling stake, as well as the diversion of some £80,000 of CountyGlen funds to Verit, where it was used to meet tax liabilities. The money was not sufficient to stave off the collapse of Verit.
CountyGlen limped along for a number of years before being delisted and wound up in 1998, leaving most of its 1,000 or so small shareholders out of pocket.
Although the CountyGlen affair has been eclipsed by subsequent business scandals, Mr Carway remains one of Ireland's more colourful businessmen. He is understood still to have hotel interests in Portugal. Before the CountyGlen scandal arose, Verit Industries, a US company connected to Mr Carway, became entangled in the collapse of a US mortgage bank and reached a $10 million (€11.3 million) settlement with the US authorities in 1993.
