California police are moving to seize the Irish assets and bank account of a former Killarney, Co Kerry, resident accused of netting more than $20 million in sophisticated insurance scams.
Assistant US attorney Robin Taylor said yesterday that prosecutors are seeking help from Irish authorities in seizing money held in an Allied Irish Bank account by the man, known by the alias Mr Robert Lewis Brown. He recently lived in Ireland, and was arrested in Toronto, Canada, last week.
Ms Taylor said she could not comment on how much money was held in the account, but one prosecutor working on the case said the sum was "substantial".
Ms Taylor said police still did not know Mr Brown's real name. He claims to be 58 years old.
A spokesperson for the criminal division of the northern California internal revenue service said that Mr Brown had lived during the summer months at a home in Cappanacuss Wood, Killarney.
US police had been searching for Mr Brown for the last four years after he allegedly convinced hundreds of people to part with their life savings. Police say that he claimed to be working for established US insurance companies.
Federal prosecutors in Sacramento, California, have charged him with conspiracy, mail fraud, money laundering and making false statements in an insurance fraud scheme.
The US attorney's Office confirmed yesterday that US authorities are seeking to search and freeze Mr Brown's property in Ireland as well as another property he is said to hold in the Caribbean.
According to Ms Taylor, Mr Brown ran companies called Tri-Continental Exchange Ltd and Combines Services Ltd, which sold bogus insurance policies throughout California and other states, beginning in January 2000. He allegedly claimed the policies were backed by a pool of legitimate, international insurance companies.
According to an FBI complaint shown to The Irish Times, Mr Brown opened an AIB account in Ireland in the name of Crest Lake Properties in to which he intended to lodge the millions of dollars he would scam from people across the United States.
The FBI allege that Mr Brown later opened up a second account in Kenmare, Co Kerry, with his wife, whom US authorities are also seeking to question.