Catriona Carey arrested as part of investigation into alleged company law breaches

Former international hockey player Catriona Carey has been arrested for questioning as part of an investigation into alleged breaches of company law.

She was detained on Wednesday morning for questioning as part of the inquiry by the Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA).

Its inquiry is a separate investigation to the Garda investigation into allegations Ms Carey received money from mortgage holders to do deals on distressed loans and kept the money without the promised arrangements being struck with lenders.

The Irish Times understands the alleged breaches of company law under investigation by the authority relate to Careysfort Asset Estates. That is the firm Ms Carey is alleged to have been operating through when she was offering to reach deals for mortgage holders that would have resulted in them keeping their properties but owing much smaller sums after bank write-downs of their debts.

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The authority’s investigative and enforcement role relates to compliance with the Companies Act. It seeks to identify any misconduct with the way firms are run and to enforce any breaches under the Act.

The authority’s inquiry into Ms Carey’s alleged activities linked to Careysfort Asset Estates has been ongoing for some time. It is understood information about the running of the company has been gathered in recent months and that some of those details were being put to Ms Carey by authority investigators on Wednesday.

The authority has many of the same powers as the Garda and can also send case files to the Director of Public Prosecutions for direction on whether a person or company should face criminal charges. However, that stage of the inquiry into Careysfort Asset Estates has not been reached and no findings have been arrived at against Ms Carey.

Last June Careysfort Asset Estates was described as an “unauthorised firm” by the Central Bank, which advised people not to deal with it. In reply to queries about the arrest on Wednesday, the authority said: “Owing to statutory obligations of confidentiality, the CEA does not comment upon its investigative activities.”

[ Central Bank warns public not to do business with Catriona Carey’s firm ]

[ Investigation into Catriona Carey expands as more alleged victims identified ]

In February, 2022, RTÉ’s Prime Time carried a report on Ms Carey and allegations made by several people who said they dealt with her as they tried to resolve their financial problems relating to their mortgages.

It is alleged Ms Carey offered to provide a financial service to people whose mortgages had run into difficulty. It was claimed she promised her company would buy her clients’ distressed loans from their lenders at a discounted rate, claiming the banks would write off the balance as a bad debt. She would then offer the clients the discounted mortgages and put in place the loans for them, with her company profiting from the ongoing interest payments.

It is alleged the main precondition of the arrangement was that deposits were paid in advance. Some people have claimed they paid sums as large as €60,000 and €35,000 to Ms Carey. Some were in cash and others were wired to accounts in Belgium and Germany.

While Ms Carey, an accountant by profession, drew up contracts and promised to refund the money if the deals were not conducted to the clients’ satisfaction, they claim they were not refunded their deposits.

Ms Carey, who has lived in a luxury home in Kilkenny, won 72 caps playing hockey for Ireland for eight years before retiring from international duty as a 28-year-old in 2006. She is the sister of the former Kilkenny hurler DJ Carey, who has been in the news over the last week after it emerged he received a write-down of about 80 per cent of property-related debts he had with AIB totalling €9.5 million.

Ms Carey has two previous convictions relating to her VAT returns, dating back to 2006, and was fined €750. She was also given a suspended sentence of eight months three years ago over her handling of a cheque for €6,948. A salon she was working for intended the cheque to be paid to the collector general though Ms Carey inserted herself as the payee and stole the money. Last May she received a suspended prison sentence for driving without a licence or insurance while disqualified from driving.