Suspended sentence for ‘pyramid’ schemer

Cavanman pays back full €542,000 owed

It was a man he met at a hotel convention who Barry Hanrahan claimed “let him down”, and led to the loss of over €540,000 belonging to local investors.

Described to the courts as “a type of pyramid scheme”, the 14-year-old case concluded this month when Hanrahan (39) handed over the final draft worth €67,000. He has repaid over half a million euro to victims.

Hanrahan gathered hundreds of thousands of euro from willing investors taken in by the Cavan man’s promise of a fast and sizeable return.

Hanrahan, formerly of Kilnavara Court in Cavan Town and now living north of the Border, pleaded guilty to 10 sample counts as far back as November 2007.

The offences occurred at locations in Dublin, Meath and Cavan between 2001 and 2002 and related to Hanrahan illegally presenting himself as an investment business firm or broker without the authorisation from the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority.

In total there were 33 separate charges on the indictment, with a total combined loss to those involved amounting to €542,000.

Up until the final repayment, the case had been adjourned periodically, from one Circuit Court term to the next, allowing Hanrahan as much time as it took to pay back the monies owed. All funds repaid, divided on a pro rata basis, were lodged into a joint account by agreement with the State Solicitor for Longford, Mark Connellan, and Hanrahan’s own defence solicitor, Martin Cosgrove.

At one stage, before moving back to live in Ireland, it was stated to the court that Hanrahan had found employment in London in the financial services sector.

For his crimes, Hanrahan faced a maximum possible fine of £1 million or €1.27 million, a term of 10 years’ imprisonment, or both.

Detective Garda Joanne Gethins, attached to Cavan Garda Station, provided evidence to the court, with case details relayed by prosecutor Monica Lawlor BL, instructed by State Solicitor Rory Hayden.

The sentencing court heard how Hanrahan had received money from people on a promise it would be reinvested, earning up to 30% profit in return.

Of the sample counts pleaded to, the first related to Hanrahan receiving £4,000 from Caroline Sheanon at a house in Aughnaskerry on dates between June 8 and September 11, 2001. She gave him a further £11,000 the following month, totalling her loss at £15,000.

Hanrahan received £15,000 from Damien Glover from a meeting on Farnham Street on November 28, 2001. Hanrahan told Mr Glover he was a financial broker involved in “insurance schemes”. The money invested was all Mr Glover’s “savings”. Mr Glover waited six months before calling Hanrahan to say he wanted his money back, but received nothing in return.

Damien McBreen gave Hanrahan €30,000 at the Imperial Bar on dates between June 1-30, 2002. The promise was he’d receive a 30% return. Hanrahan also told Mr McBreen he was a “broker”. He later invested two further sums of €6,000 and €5,000, with no return received.

Michael Lee met with Hanrahan at a house in The Steeples between May 1-30, 2002. He had known the defendant “all his life” and gave Hanrahan €8,000. He later gave him a further sum of €10,000, bringing Mr Lee’s total loss to €18,000.

On dates between September 1, 2001 and July 31, 2002 at Rathfaigh, Co Meath, Noel Russell invested €50,000; while the total loss to Pat Reilly arising out of meetings with Hanrahan between May 1, 2001 and March 31, 2002 at the Farnham Arms Hotel was €21,000.

Cavan Circuit Court heard Mr Reilly invested £30,000 over all of their interactions, with Hanrahan paying out £9,000 as “profit”.

The court further heard that Mr Reilly’s brother (€5,000) and father (€6,000) also invested money, which they lost too. Mr Reilly later received a letter notifying him that a “third party” had “run away with the money” Hanrahan was managing.

Hanrahan met with Philip Purr from Scotland at the Farnham Arms Hotel on January 30, 2002. He invested €40,000 in January, 2002. Hanrahan paid back €18,000 in two payments described as “profit”, totalling Mr Purr’s loss at €22,000.

Mr Purr was later told that the remainder of his investment was lost to a man who could not now be “contacted”. That person was named in court as a ‘Scott Sherlock’.

Richard Madden, who met Hanrahan at Brady’s Bar in Terenure, Dublin, lost out to the tune of €10,000; while in three separate instalments, Ronan Doyle paid Hanrahan €40,000 after meeting him at the Round O Pub in Navan on dates between September 1, 2001 and July 21, 2002.

The final charge pleaded to related to Seamus Donohoe, who suffered a loss of €27,000 after meeting Hanrahan in Carrickaboy on September 19, 2002.

The court was informed by Det Gethins that the gardaí who originally began investigating the case had all since retired.

When arrested by Det Garda James Murray in 2005, Hanrahan made “certain” admissions, though “disputed” the amounts owed to various people.

Hanrahan told gardaí that the last time he and ‘Scott Sherlock’ spoke was in November 2002. The pair had met at a convention at the Great Southern Hotel next to Dublin Airport in 1998.

It was suggested that ‘Scott Sherlock’ had “let him down”.

Hanrahan, a married dad-of-two, had no previous convictions at the time the offences came to light.

Det Gethins said gardaí found no corroborating evidence regarding a man named ‘Scott Sherlock’.

Anthony Salmon SC, representing Hanrahan, said a “significant” number of references had been handed into court. He described his client as someone who in the past had “given to the community”.

He noted how it had been a “great struggle” for Hanrahan to pay back the funds, and that the defendant “regretted” his actions, pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity available.

Mr Salmon said the “only loss” technically was in relation to the “interest” promised to investors.

Judge Aylmer inherited the case from his predecessor - the now retired Judge John O’Hagan. The judge placed the scale of offending in the “mid-range” meriting a headline sentence of five years before mitigation.

Judge Aylmer said, to Hanrahan’s “credit”, the defendant endeavoured to pay the money back.

Hanrahan, dressed in a black suit and open-collar purple shirt, cut a visibly relieved figure when Judge John Aylmer indicated to Cavan Circuit Court his intention was not to send the local man to jail.

Prepared to acknowledge those efforts made at their fullest, the judge said he was prepared to take the “unusual” step to suspend the entirety of a three-and-a-half-year prison term on condition that Hanrahan “keep the peace and be of good behaviour”.

When asked if he understand the bond, Hanrahan nodded from the dock and said: “I do judge.”

A nolle prosequi was entered in respect of all remaining counts on the indictment.

The Anglo-Celt approached Mr Hanrahan and his legal team after the case had ended asking him for a statement. However he did not wish to comment.