BANK OFFICIAL JAILED FOR FRAUD

A North Louth man who was a former vice president of a global investment bank in Dublin has been jailed for 18 months after he admitted getting over €200,000 from two local couples through a fake investment portfolio which he used to fund his gambling addiction.

Paul Sharkey (43), Ballinurd, Kilkerley, was before Judge Leonie Reynolds at Trim Circuit Court on Monday after he pleaded guilty, following the start of his trial last summer, to three counts of dishonest appropriation of funds relating to investments made by two couples in North Louth in 2011 and 2012.

Sentencing had been deferred so the judge could consider the matter after she heard the victims have no interest in the scheme put forward by Sharkey, to repay the victims, which would have taken nine years.

Sharkey, who has no previous convictions, didn’t invest the €150,000 he received from the first couple, nor the €50,000 he got from the second husband and wife. He was a gambling addict who ‘ tried to win back’ the investments by betting on dogs and horses, sometimes placing hundreds of small bets a day.

But he failed to get back the money for the couples and, in victim impact statements, read to the court last year, they said they had been ‘financially devastated’ by the loss of the cash. The woman who invested €50,000 used her lump sum from early retirement to fund her part of the deal.

At the time of the offences, Sharkey was a vice president (pricing) of the Northern Trust Investment Bank (Ireland).

The Gardai became involved and on July 8 2013, Sharkey was arrested. In a statement, he told Gardai he had received the money and had, at the time, wanted to set up a company. However, he accepted that the money was gone and he had made up the statements of the ‘imaginary performances’ of the couples’ cash.

Sharkey was admitted to the Rutland Clinic for five weeks following his statement where he was treated for gambling and alcohol addiction. He was fired from his job.

Judge Reynolds heard the couples sued the bank for their money and the bank settled, as a ‘goodwill gesture’ before the case went to court, with the couples getting 80% of their investments back.

However, the first couple are still out of pocket to the tune of €40,000 while the second were at a loss of €20,000.

Last month, the court heard the defendant’s mortgage is over €66,000 in arrears and his mortgage bank had refused to allow him sign up to the mortgage to rent scheme.

He offered €3,000 loaned to him by his parents and was proposing repayments of €500 per month, through a back to work scheme which he is on through Louth Leader which has seen him set up an event management business.

Judge Reynolds said she would require more time to consider the documents handed into the court.

On Monday, the court heard the accused was now proposing to pay back the victims within seven years, two years earlier than the previous offer. But Judge Reynolds said the proposals ‘appeared to have little reality to them’.

She said the case involved ‘gross deception of persons who had been engaged in a long standing personal relationship’ with the defendant and’ who have had to wait almost five years to have matters concluded’.

She noted that a large number of testimonials had been handed into the court in relation to the defendant’s previous good character and Mr. Sharkey had ‘albeit at this late stage’ expressed his remorse.

She imposed a three year sentence, but suspended the final 18 months for three years from the date of his release from prison.