Disgraced ex-solicitor jailed for stealing over €18m
Michael Lynn acted in ‘total disregard’ to his profession but is ‘capable of reform’
FORMER solicitor Michael Lynn, who was found guilty of stealing just over €18million from six financial institutions during the Celtic Tiger era, has been jailed for five and a half years.
Sentencing Lynn yesterday, Judge Martin Nolan set a sentence of 13 years and gave him seven and a half years’ credit for the time he spent in prison in Brazil.
Judge Nolan accepted that the time Lynn spent in prison in Brazil was ‘onerous’ but he noted: ‘To some degree, he could have resolved his difficulties by agreeing to come home.’
Judge Nolan also accepted that Lynn was a person who had many good points, saying he had no doubt he was ‘energetic’, ‘very intelligent’ and ‘accomplished’.
He said he believed Lynn was capable of reform and of contributing to this country and society ‘in due course’. But he said the amount of money stolen was serious and Lynn had brought solicitors into ‘professional disrepute’.
‘Mr Lynn acted in total disregard in relation to his obligations as a solicitor to be honest and straightforward and he disregarded the interests of the people he was working with,’ Judge Nolan said.
He noted Lynn’s account of having prior agreements with the banks in relation to the loan monies was disbelieved by the jury.
The judge backdated the fiveand-a-half year sentence to December 20 last, when Lynn went into
‘Will affect his life expectancy’
custody. Lynn and his wife Bríd Murphy, who was in court for the sentence, made no visible reaction when the sentence was handed down. Lynn, 55, was found guilty by a jury of 10 of the 21 counts against him following a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial last year.
The jury was unable to agree on the remaining 11 counts before the court. It was the second trial in the case after the jury in his first trial, which ran for 16 weeks in 2022, was unable to agree on any verdicts.
Lynn, of Millbrook Court, Redcross, Co. Wicklow, had pleaded not guilty to 21 counts of theft in Dublin between October 23, 2006, and April 20, 2007, when he was working as a solicitor and property developer. He has no previous convictions and has been in custody since he was convicted of the 10 counts just before Christmas. The court heard Lynn obtained multiple mortgages on the same properties in a situation where banks were unaware that other institutions were also providing finance. These properties included Glenlion, Lynn’s €5.5million home in Howth, and multiple investment properties.
After the sentence was handed down, the court heard an application will be made for the confiscation of assets pertaining to Lynn, in the form of ‘real properties and bank accounts’.
This matter was set down for mention on April 16.
He was extradited from Brazil in 2018 after spending four-and-a-half years in a ‘hellhole’ prison there.
In his plea of mitigation to the court, Paul Comiskey O’Keeffe BL, defending, said Lynn had suffered mental trauma as a result of his prolonged period in a Brazilian prison. A number of medical reports were handed into court which outlined how Lynn suffered from PTSD as a result of his incarceration in ‘deplorable’ conditions and that he witnessed a decapitation and daily violence.
His current imprisonment has had a triggering effect on his mental health, the court heard. A medical report found that Lynn developed a skin carcinoma as a result of being exposed to direct sunlight in prison and is now more susceptible to a similar type of cancer, as well as more malignant forms, counsel said.
The court heard Lynn has chronic asthma and suffered 11 bouts of pneumonia in a five-year period.
His experience in Brazil ‘will affect his overall life expectancy’, Mr Comiskey O’Keeffe said.
Defence counsel handed in a number of testimonials including from Ms Murphy, outlining the effect her husband’s incarceration has had on their family and their children.
The court heard an acquaintance of Lynn – an English businessman – had agreed to give Lynn a job. Lynn has no previous convictions.
The financial institutions Lynn was found guilty of stealing from were National Irish Bank, Irish Life and Permanent, Ulster Bank, ACC Bank, Bank of Scotland Ireland and Irish Nationwide Building Society. Lynn took the stand and told his trial that the banks were aware he had multiple loans on the same properties and that this was custom and practice among bankers in Celtic Tiger Ireland. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the single count relating to Bank of Ireland alleging Lynn stole €2.7m from that bank.
It was also unable to reach verdicts on 10 counts relation to Irish