Former developer enjoyed corporate hospitality at Aviva as he ‘struggled’

SÉAN Dunne was spotted enjoying Ireland’s rugby victory over England in a corporate box at the Aviva Stadium in early 2015, nearly two years into the bankruptcy he describes as being ‘like a prison sentence’.

The Carlow native hasn’t lived in Ireland since 2007 and has been a US resident since 2010. By March 2013 he had successfully filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut.

Ulster Bank first asked the High Court in Dublin to declare him bankrupt over a €164million debt in February 2013 and by July 2013 the bank had succeeded.

Then in March 2014, the High Court heard that items including artworks, golf memorabilia and personal documents were seized from a Co. Kildare property linked to him. It was told Mr Dunne may have kept valuable art behind ‘secret panels’ at the house in the Churchfield development next to the K Club in Straffan, Co. Kildare, with the possible intention of taking pieces to America.

The court also heard Mr Dunne disputed any claims of a ‘false wall’ and insisted the area in question was ‘simply a storage unit under the stairs containing the sound system for the house’. He challenged the validity of the warrant used to carry out the search, claiming the application was ‘unjustified and unwarranted’.

Two works of art seized during the raid on a house in Co. Kildare were later returned to Mr Dunne’s wife Gayle and son John.

Mr Dunne listed debts of more than €700million during his US bankruptcy bid. He said at that time that he owed Ulster Bank around €300million.

He also claimed it was unfair to bankrupt him in Ireland in July 2013 when he’d already filed for bankruptcy in the US. During a Supreme Court bid here to overturn his Irish bankruptcy in March 2015, Mr Dunne’s lawyers accused his creditors of wanting to ‘have their American cake and eat it in Ireland’.