Gardaí believe disgraced former solicitor Michael Lynn returned to Ireland with a substantial portion of the €17.9 million he stole from banks and used the cash to bankroll a fresh criminal scheme here.
The 55-year-old was jailed on Monday for 5½ years for stealing vast sums of money from six financial institutions in Ireland during the property boom. He was convicted of the thefts in December following a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after his extradition from Brazil.
In parallel to the prosecution, detectives from the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) have been conducting a sprawling investigation into Lynn’s financial dealings in Ireland since his return from South America.
This culminated in a search operation last month during which five properties, including Lynn’s family home in Co Wicklow, were subject to dawn raids by armed gardaí.
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At about the same time, gardaí obtained an order freezing more than €2 million in bank accounts linked to Lynn and his associates, amid suspicions it represented the proceeds of crime.
On Monday, the court heard prosecutors will apply at a later date for a seizure of Lynn’s properties and bank accounts under proceeds-of-crime legislation.
Lynn spent much of the money he stole from banks on property deals and an extravagant Celtic Tiger lifestyle. However, investigators believe he was able to hold on to some of the stolen money and keep it in his possession during his years on the run in Brazil and the four years spent in prison there.
They suspect he was able to funnel much of this money back to Ireland using a network of shell companies.
Once back in Ireland, Lynn is believed to have used the money to fund a money-laundering scheme which centred on the purchase of properties here through several front companies. This was done with the assistance of several associates, gardaí believe.
According to court papers filed recently by a business partner of Lynn, Yavor Poptoshev, gardaí are investigating companies linked to Lynn for money laundering, deception and social welfare fraud.
The complex investigation also involves investigations into companies based offshore, including in Portugal.
Mr Poptoshev, who has lived in Ireland with his wife and children for about 18 months, is one of the directors of Ribblesway, a company whose only asset is a house in Brittas, Co Wicklow, where Lynn lived with his family before he was remanded in custody in December.
The single-storey detached house, which is set on half an acre, was purchased for €450,000 in 2021.
In his court filings, Mr Poptoshev described himself as a friend of Lynn’s and said he had known him for 14 or 15 years. He said he worked with him on projects in several countries, including Portugal, Hungary and Slovakia.
Mr Poptoshev also said he had assisted Lynn in examining very large volumes of legal documentation during his criminal trial.
He said he had been present for many legal consultations with Lynn’s lawyers and had kept large quantities of case files in his home in Stillorgan, Dublin 18.
A request for a comment from Mr Poptoshev was met with no response.
Judge Martin Nolan on Monday said he accepted that Lynn was a person who had many good points – he was “energetic”, “very intelligent” and “accomplished”. He said he believed Lynn was capable of reform and of contributing to this country and society “in due course”.
He set a headline sentence of 16 years but reduced this to 13 years having taken mitigating factors such as Lynn’s lack of previous convictions into consideration. He also said he would take into account the 4½ years that Lynn had spent in prison in Brazil, time he said he would aggregate to 7½ years because the conditions in that jail had no doubt been “pretty inhumane”.
On this basis, he said, Lynn should receive a sentence of 5½ years, starting from December 20th last, when the jury found him guilty.
In a statement released on behalf of his client in the wake of the sentencing decision, solicitor Ciaran Mulholland, of Mulholland Law, said Lynn had instructed that an appeal be lodged immediately against his conviction and sentence.
Following a critical review of aspects of the case, the statement said it was always easy to demonise an individual in order to deflect attention from the “real culprits” and called on the Oireachtas to set up an inquiry into “systemic flaws” in the banking system.
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