Date set for sentencing of 3 executives over plan to scam clients
THREE senior executives of Custom House Capital are due to be sentenced next month in relation to a conspiracy to defraud investors in the company over a decade ago.
The firm’s former CEO Harry Cassidy, 67; former head of private clients John Whyte, 53; and Paul Lavery, 47, head of finance, pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to defraud investors in and clients and customers of Custom House Capital Ltd by intentionally misleading them as to where and/or how their assets had been placed, contrary to common law.
Also, John Mulholland, 73, of The Foxes Colvert, Mount Juliet estate, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, a nonexecutive director of Custom House Capital, admitted one count of neglectful discharge of the duty of a director in relation to the commission by the company of acts of dishonesty by inducing clients to entrust funds, refrain from removing funds with the intention of making a gain for itself and causing loss to another.
All of the offences occurred within the State on dates between October 1, 2008 and July 15, 2011.
Cassidy, of Clon Brugh, Aitkens Village, Stepaside, Dublin; Whyte, of Beechpark, Lucan, Dublin; Lavery, of Rafeenan, Ballynod, Co. Monaghan; and Mulholland are due to appear before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on April 21 for a sentencing hearing in front of Judge Orla Crowe.
The court was told yesterday that the hearing is expected to last one day. Separately, Ciara Kelleher, 51, the firm’s then-senior portfolio relationship manager, will face a retrial in 2025, after a jury failed to reach a verdict earlier this month on the charge she faces.
Ms Kelleher, of Blackhorse Avenue, in Dublin 7, pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiring with others to defraud investors, clients, and customers of Custom House Capital Ltd by intentionally misleading them as to where or how their assets had been placed in the investment firm.
The offence is alleged to have happened within the State on dates between October 2008 and July 2011. Judge Martin Nolan set a date of January 13, 2025 for the retrial.
‘Inducing clients to entrust funds’