Judge ‘totally fed up’ with young people who use ‘stupidity as a shield’
Four men get suspended terms for money laundering
A DUBLIN Circuit Criminal Court judge has said he is ‘totally fed up’ with young people who give their bank details to third parties using ‘stupidity as a shield’.
Judge Martin Nolan made the comments yesterday while sentencing four men in their 20s for various offences related to money laundering after €121,000 was stolen from a Dublin solicitors’ firm through invoice redirect fraud.
The court heard the solicitors’ firm was able to recoup €64,000 of the stolen money but has been left at a loss of €57,216.
Judge Nolan said it should be ‘well known to everyone’ that ‘every type of fraud needs a bank account to obtain the money without breaking cover’.
He said the court was ‘totally fed up with young people coming to court and using stupidity as a shield’. The judge said the court was giving notice that people who gave their bank details after January 2022 are ‘going to be in danger of going to jail’.
He said: ‘I think the stupidity and ignorance defence has dissipated and young people are going to have to face accountability for their stupidity.
‘Patience must run out at some point,’ the judge said, adding: ‘This has been going on too long’.
Cameron Fanning, 25, of Bishop Rogan Park, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare, pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering from the solicitors’ firm on November 9, 2020, and one count of giving false information about his bank account to gardaí. He was sentenced to three-and-half years in prison, suspended on strict conditions. Mubarak Salawu, 22, of The Paddocks Drive, Adamstown, Lucan, Co. Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering in relation to the stolen monies, which were credited to his account, and an unrelated charge of possessing a pair of €600
Balenciaga runners bought from the proceeds of crime. He got a suspended two-year sentence.
Olumide Lawal, 27, of Fettercairn Road, Tallaght, Dublin, admitted two counts of money laundering and possession of a €900 iPhone bought using the proceeds of crime. Lawal was given a suspended sentence of two years.
Aaron Clancy, 21, of the Square,
Walshestown Park, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, pleaded guilty to possessing €3,020, the proceeds of money laundering, in relation to the solicitors’ firm and a further unrelated count of possessing €4,650, the proceeds of crime. He got a twoyears suspended sentence.
Garda Ciaran Ronan told prosecution counsel David Perry that during the investigation into the money stolen from the solicitors’ firm, gardaí found other, unrelated money-laundering offences.
The court heard that on November 9, 2020, an accounts assistant at the solicitors’ firm sent a standard request to the company’s financial controller for €121,000 to be paid to a client account.
A short time later, the financial controller got a fraudulent email asking for the same amount to be paid to a Bank of Ireland account in the name of Cameron Fanning.
Bank of Ireland officials became suspicious of the transaction and alerted Fanning and gardaí.
On November 18, 2020, Fanning went to gardaí and said he had lost his bank card but had not reported it. Gardaí observed transactions totalling €57,218.
Fanning later admitted he had been asked by a friend to ‘do him a favour’ and give him his bank details so that he could get his €1,000 wages transferred.
He told gardaí three men turned up at his house and took him to a bank in Newbridge and ordered him to withdraw stg£7,500. He said one of the men threatened to stab him so he withdrew the money.
The court heard graduate Olumide Lawal ‘immensely regrets’ getting involved in holding the proceeds of crime, while Aaron Clancy, who saw an ad on Snapchat from a friend of a friend looking for access to bank account details in exchange for money, is due to qualify as an electrician next month. Salawu, who is in the final year of his degree, also expressed remorse.
Judge Nolan said innocent people lose their money and counsel come to court and say their client was stupid, made a bad decision or succumbed to temptation.
‘But somebody is going to go to jail, to stop people making these stupid decisions, because this is continuing for years now,’ he said.
‘Patience must run out at some point’