Anglo Irish Bank’s Ex-CEO Arrested for Fraud
July 24th, 2012Released on bail of €1,000? Really?
Via: USA Today:
Fraud detectives arrested the former chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank and charged him Tuesday over a conspiracy to hide colossal losses at the bank that brought the nation to the brink of bankruptcy.
Officers of the Bureau of Fraud Investigation arrested Sean FitzPatrick, 64, at Dublin Airport as he returned from a holiday around 5:30 a.m.
FitzPatrick was arraigned hours later in Dublin’s Central Criminal Court on 16 counts related to Anglo’s doomed 2008 effort to prop up its collapsing share price. Forensic accountants found that Anglo provided secret loans to 16 insiders on condition they used the €1.1 billion ($1.35 billion) to buy Anglo stock.
Those shares rapidly turned worthless despite the subterfuge, helping to bankrupt Ireland’s richest man and top Anglo investor, Sean Quinn. His family on its own bought €650 million in Anglo shares using the bank’s own borrowed money. The other 10 investors received loans of €45 million each.
Two other former senior Anglo executives, Willie McAteer and Patrick Whelan, were arrested in Dublin and charged with the same 16 fraud counts Monday as Ireland’s three-year probe into Anglo — described by the Justice Department as the most complex criminal case in Irish history — finally produced charges.
If convicted, all three men could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
FitzPatrick was released on bail of €1,000 ($1,200), which he paid himself, and an additional surety of €10,000. His next court appearance was set for Oct. 8.
