Setback for Irish developer seeking return of passport

A US judge has rejected a request from Irish property developer Garrett Kelleher for the approval of arrangements which would have allowed for the return of his passport.

The businessman was ordered on August 13 to surrender the passport and remain in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania until he has complied with discovery orders in a case revolving around a disputed multi-million dollar insurance claim.

Mr Kelleher, best known for his involvement in the stalled Chicago Spire project, spent $2.85m (€2.45m) funding litigation in the Cayman Islands against an insurer who refused to pay out on claims arising out of the ransacking of warehouses during the Liberian civil war in 1990.

But the Dubliner’s funding of efforts to enforce a Liberian court judgment for $66.5m (€57.3m) landed him in hot water with a court in Pennsylvania, which ruled the action violated a worldwide anti-suit injunction. Mr Kelleher says he had no knowledge of the injunction when he funded the Cayman litigation. According to court filings, proposals tabled by Mr Kelleher which would have allowed for the return of his passport before the US courts reopen today, following the Labor Day holiday weekend, were rejected on Friday by Judge Paul Diamond. Mr Kelleher is expected to seek the return of the passport again in the coming days.