Sean Quinn - A man more sinned against than sinning?

I'd love for someone to explain to me in simple bullet points why he's a dickhead.

tritium

Quinn chose to invest in Anglo using contracts for difference rather than buying share. The only reason to do this is to be a bit sneaky and hide his shareholding. He took a gamble and it failed. As a result he couldn't afford to ditch the investsment when Anglo's share price went south and so like the classic gambling addict he bet good money after bad. No one asked him to gamble on the market. Now he's decided that he doesn't want to pay the money back

Too bad!

Callan57

I don't understand why Sean Quinn Jnr was jailed for 3 months .... I thought if you were convicted of contempt of court you were normally jailed until you "purged your contempt"

In all honesty though I have to admit that if it hadn't been for the guarantee dragging the Irish taxpayers into the mix I would be delighted to see the Quinn's and Anglo slogging it out and I'd be saying fair bloody play to Quinn for pulling a fast one! (Just being honest)

fran17

i feel alot of sympathy for him,the guy started out with a loan for £100 and built everything from the bottom up.the day when sean fitzpatrick is brought to book is when real justice is served.but with his political ties and knowledge surrounding the bank guarantee i fear that day will never come.bastard

Callan57

Callan57 wrote: »

I don't understand why Sean Quinn Jnr was jailed for 3 months .... I thought if you were convicted of contempt of court you were normally jailed until you "purged your contempt"

In all honesty though I have to admit that if it hadn't been for the guarantee dragging the Irish taxpayers into the mix I would be delighted to see the Quinn's and Anglo slogging it out and I'd be saying fair bloody play to Quinn for pulling a fast one! (Just being honest)

Have to laugh at this. I'm sure Quinn appreciates the support up in his mansion that you'll be paying for - that is if you ever even pay any sort of meaningful tax, which I doubt.

fran17

fran17 wrote: »

i feel alot of sympathy for him,the guy started out with a loan for £100 and built everything from the bottom up.the day when sean fitzpatrick is brought to book is when real justice is served.but with his political ties and knowledge surrounding the bank guarantee i fear that day will never come.bastard

Why support one gambler and not the other?

ronano

no

a crook is a crook, watched the rte new report last night and it was basically a pr play for 'ah shure aint he great really'. wtf is wrong with this county when all of us are playing for quinns actions and yet and we still like him.

R P McMurphy

I think if Sean Quinn had played the political game like the others he would not be in the same level of trouble he currently finds himself in. Didn't grease the right hands at the right time. Sure he would still have lost his companies over his failed investments in Anglo. Where are the golden circle members in al of this and why have they not been named yet

desertcircus

What on earth is with the Sean Quinn defenders with low post counts who appear out of the woodwork every time he gets mentioned in AH?

And less of this "he's only protecting his family, we'd all do it". No. Not all of us would defy a court order and see our son sent to prison to try and maintain our vast personal wealth. This isn't about a guy trying to make sure his family have a roof over their head, this is about an extremely wealthy family using means of dubious legality to frustrate the efforts of IBRC to collect what they're legally entitled to. Anyone who was really trying to protect their family wouldn't let their son get sent down for it.

As for the idea that "Ireland's greatest entrepreneur" was sold a pup and was an innocent party:
1. He's not an idiot; he was smart enough to set up the Quinn group in the first place.
2. He used loans which he knew to be illegal to buy his shareholding, which should have been a HUGE red flag.
3. When you're a billionaire using illegal loans to buy €288 million worth of something as an investment, the idea that you don't know what you're really in for is utterly ridiculous.

fran17

Rojomcdojo wrote: »

Why support one gambler and not the other?

no sean quinn is paying for his mistakes and thats fine by me but he and fitzpatrick are two very differant people.he may have lied to try and save his empire but that other bastard lied and held a gun to the head of the country

Callan57

Rojomcdojo wrote: »

Have to laugh at this. I'm sure Quinn appreciates the support up in his mansion that you'll be paying for - that is if you ever even pay any sort of meaningful tax, which I doubt.

If you had read my post you would see that I did not give support to anyone in any mansion. I have little sympathy for the Quinns but my point was that if there was no guarantee I personally (and everyother taxpayer) would not be impacted by the Quinns financial games and being honest about it I would have been rooting for anyone fighting the banks.
The FF/Greens putting the Irish taxpayer on the line for the debts of Anglo is the big scandal.

As for you comment on my tax paying record .... as you know absolutely nothing about me I will treat that comment with the contempt it deserves. :eek:

fran17

fran17 wrote: »

no sean quinn is paying for his mistakes and thats fine by me but he and fitzpatrick are two very differant people.he may have lied to try and save his empire but that other bastard lied and held a gun to the head of the country

But Sean Quinn isnt paying for his mistakes, hence this thread.

A Dub in Glasgo

Quinn is just like the other feckless cnuts in Ireland. Those who are greedy bastards and then expect to teflon their responsibilities and accountibilities when the going gets tough. They expect the taxpayer to hold their debt when it goes wrong and pocket billions when it goes right.

Sympathy for that cnut of a man and his family? No fecking chance and all the sycophants who do his pleading... get a fecking grip on reality and cop yourselves on.

So what money does he owe now? I've been out of Ireland for ages.. I know he bought loads of Anglo. Was this his own cash and now he's being chased for Anglo losses because of his shareholding. Or was it loaned money that he now can't pay?

mcmoustache

crazy cabbage wrote: »

Do we really nead 3 treads about sean quinn in AH?

Yes.
Yes, we do.

logonmar

[HTML]In the eighties AIB was profitable but ran ICI into the ground and required a massive bailout

Same happened with PMPA, breaking all the rules and other bail-out, there was a levy on every insurance policy to cover this
Doesn't matter if you never dealt with PMPA, you still pay[/HTML]

Hell of a difference between ICI, PMPA & Quinn.
In the case of PMPA they went bust due to lack of proper management at the very top. The top person in PMPA (Joe Moore) never made any personal gain from abusing the companies funds nor did he raid the insurance funds the way Quinn did. In fact Moore kept investing in PMPA shares so when the company went bust he lost everything.
Misguided? Yes
Incompetent? Yes
Crook? No
ICI was a different type of debacle entirely and was a case of AIB (bankers once again!) deciding they could expand into a new financial sector. However claims reserves were understated and this precipitated the collapse. Again there was no evidence of anyone making personal gain nor of abusing funds. They masked their trading position until found out.

On the other hand Quinn used nearly €300 of Quinn Insurance funds to support other parts of his group and was fined €3 million by the Financial Regulator.

Quinn grew Quinn Direct by charging uneconomic rates and as someone in the industry said to me a few years ago that
'Quinn Direct are either the luckiest company in the world in terms of their claims experience
or
EVERY established company were totally inept because the premiums being charged wouldn't even cover the cost of the claims based on actuarial evidence even before overheads etc. were taken into account'

No doubt Quinn provided lots of jobs, that were badly needed, in the Cavan area but fact is he did so in way that was eventually going to become a levy on the taxpayer.
Just as happened in PMPA a company growing rapidly can cloak their true position as their is a time between getting the ever growing premium and the company settling historical claims. However in every similar case worldwide the problem starts to develop when growth plateaus out.

Bottom line is that Quinn is far from a hero and was always looking after himself, family etc. so nobody should feel sympathy for yje predicament he now finds himself in

King of Kings

bubblypop wrote: »

i defy anyone who felt hard done by, by a bank run by conmen not to try and hide their assets for their family from this 'bank'

nothingto do withbeing honest.

run by conmen perhaps but you'll find Quinn and his secret gamblings on the share price and chasing his losses caused the anglo share price to collapse when other investors drove the price down cos there was an unknown (at the time) clown out there who was chasing losses for 25% of the bank's worth and they could make a killing betting against said clown.

fran17 wrote: »

no sean quinn is paying for his mistakes and thats fine by me but he and fitzpatrick are two very differant people.he may have lied to try and save his empire but that other bastard lied and held a gun to the head of the country

actually you'll find Fitzpatrick (whatever he did at anglo) has actually manned up , paid the price taking bankrupcy in ireland at the 12 years and lost it all. Sean Quinn is trying to weasel out of it like the dirty weasel that he is. First claiming his actually resident in the north and now the recent weaselling and hiding assets,

Have you ever looked in Quinn's past and his shoddy practices...a good reference would be matt coopers book "who really run's ireland" read the chapter on quinn and come back and tell us "he is a grand fella".

*anybody who mentions the trip to the euros is an idiot cos that was paid for by his buddy, lucky for him one of best pals is a billionaire.

christmas2012

actually you'll find Fitzpatrick (whatever he did at anglo) has actually manned up

there both lying fraudulent weasels i cant believe ordinary people would defend these guys..honestly un real.

King of Kings

christmas2012 wrote: »

there both lying fraudulent weasels i cant believe ordinary people would defend these guys..honestly un real.

you misunderstand me
I don't defend him at all but in a comparision between him and quinn , at least he took his punishment.

In fact compared to all the people who jumped to the UK to weasel out of irish law he looks more contrite but at no point I ever defended him. .

Lord Trollington

After everything that has gone on in this country over the last 4/5 years. I don't need to list them.

From Bertie Ahern to Sean Fitz to the bank guarantee.

If the Quinns are the first people to be jailed over the whole debacle then we truly are a disgraceful nation.

christmas2012

looks like sean quinn jnr did a runner so much for owning up to responsibilties and facing the music..

BornToKill

Lord Trollington wrote: »

If the Quinns are the first people to be jailed over the whole debacle then we truly are a disgraceful nation.

If the Quinns are the first people to be jailed over the whole debacle then that's a start.

Happyman42

It will be fascinating to see what's going on here. What's the bets that Sean Quinn claims that the nephew has done a runner with the cash? Does a few months in jail and because there is no money to chase anymore he walks into the sunset. Or has the nephew cut and done a solo run? It's begining to look like the plot of a crime blockbuster novel.

BornToKill

christmas2012 wrote: »

looks like sean quinn jnr did a runner so much for owning up to responsibilties and facing the music..

Well they took him off to jail yesterday so what happened? Did he hop the wall overnight? Nothing on the news yet about the escape.

A Dub in Glasgo

I think he is talking about the nephew

stimpson

Lord Trollington wrote: »

If the Quinns are the first people to be jailed over the whole debacle then we truly are a disgraceful nation.

Except he was jailed for contempt of court. He was caught on video saying that he would happily lie in court. A few months in Portlaoise might put some manners on him.

jack presley

peasant wrote: »

Next someone will tell us that Bbbbbertie is a Gentleman, a fine upstanding citizen and basically just misunderstood

What is it with the fanboy-ism for crooks in this country?

I bet if Quinn ran in the next general election, he'd probably get voted in.

Delancey

jack presley wrote: »

I bet if Quinn ran in the next general election, he'd probably get voted in.

Doubtless he would if he ran in a border constituency just like the morons in Tipperary who vote in Michael Lowry despite his actions as Minister potentially costing the taxpayer billions or the imbeciles in Wexford who elected Mick Wallace despite the charges hanging over him of pocketing his workers pension deductions.
We do really get the politicians we deserve.

an offshore entity

Happyman42 wrote: »

It will be fascinating to see what's going on here. What's the bets that Sean Quinn claims that the nephew has done a runner with the cash? Does a few months in jail and because there is no money to chase anymore he walks into the sunset. Or has the nephew cut and done a solo run? It's begining to look like the plot of a crime blockbuster novel.

Now, this certainly would be a novel that I would buy. My thoughts on this one is that the Quinn family have a 'mastermind' who is resist/prolonging the outcome of this case, in an attempt to take this one to the European supreme court. This is the most favourable outcome for the Quinn family as any bias will be eliminated and there is a genuine possibilty that the flaws of Anglo will be uncovered.

Can anyone actually believe how watertight Anglo's evidence has been to date? I am amazed.

desertcircus

Lord Trollington wrote: »

If the Quinns are the first people to be jailed over the whole debacle then we truly are a disgraceful nation.

If you violate a court order you're going to get to jail pretty quickly. The Quinns aren't going to jail for what was done in the boom, they're going to jail for breaking the law right now.

donegal1992

Sean Quinn like many Irish businesses wouldn't be so successful if it wasn't for their government sponsored monopolistic tendencies. Now the government are no longer returning his calls cos it's bad business for them to do so.
Yes Sean Quinn is a scapegoat - not because he doesn't deserve what he got ( what goes around comes around ) rather because it is easy to go down this route than to prosecute Anglo directors.

It is 4 years at least since this whole debacle occurred and still no banker has been prosecuted - it's scandalous and we Irish deserve the consequences when this happens again in 10 years time and we have no legislation to stop it.

Curly Judge

For all his faults-and they are many-I cannot bring myself to damn a man who started his career loading a lorry with a hand shovel.
The real fact is that it will not be the Clare Dalys or the Joe Higgins or the Pretty Boy Barretts of this country who'll get the economy moving again, but small entrepreneurs with fire in their bellies.
Men and women who rage against the machine of socialist bull scutter in which we are all drowning.
In a strange way I hope Sean Quinn holds out against our corrupt justice system and escapes with a substantial proportion of his wealth intact.
Bear in mind that he is not being jailed for losing our money but for usurping the "majesty of the courts".
Some majesty!
Some legal system!

A Dub in Glasgo

Curly Judge wrote: »

For all his faults-and they are many-I cannot bring myself to damn a man who started his career loading a lorry with a hand shovel.

What planet are you on? There are plenty of people who start their career doing this and similar jobs. You won't damn them too irrespective of what they end up doing in later life because they started at the bottom rung?

bonzos

The gardai in Cavan have no interest in taking any action against any of the quinn family.....Sean Quinn sr made many a visit to the garda station with Ballyconnel over the years with booze and hampers for the boys, get real folks this is Ireland

NakedNNettles

Curly Judge wrote: »

For all his faults-and they are many-I cannot bring myself to damn a man who started his career loading a lorry with a hand shovel.
!

Well I can!

He should have gone and spent few pence of all those billions on an education and maybe he wouldn't be where he is today. :pac:

mayotom

musings wrote: »

Quinn insurances difficulties were caused by Anglo. The losses you refer to were caused by the Anglo investment, not by bad business practice.

Quinn was the worst affected investor from the Anglo collapse. The other badly affected investors would have been the Anglo Senior Bond Holders, but the government chose to bail them out, whoever they were. The goverment decided to save them and to screw Quinn

Thats where the issue is, none of them should have been bailed out, they all made bad investments, therefore they shouldn't be getting taxpayers money to cover their losses.
The bankers should have been in jail for years at this stage, I do feel some sympathy for Quinn, but he made mistakes and hence should take the associated losses.

The break up of the quinn group was a mistake and only the employees and the taxpayer will suffer.

Seaneh

I heard someone spewing something similar to the op on the train yesterday.
Some stupid ****ing auld wan going on about how he didn't do anything wrong and it was all a witch hunt, then went on to say that the way the country is wasn't FF's fault and the current government is doing worse and we will all see sense in the next election and vote for them.

I felt like puking on the stupid bitch.

an offshore entity

The lack of focus on the failures of Anglo and the government prove that Ireland remains a corrupt nation. In fact it appears that a tri-party alliance has formed to the detriment of the Quinn family. The key leaders in this circle are the politicians, bankers and the media.

We all have our views and opinions on politicians and bankers but something that we have failed to question is the media coverage of these events. The media is one of the greatest influences on the way we think and how we shape our lives. It is obvious that a bias exists and that the Quinn family are the subject of negative publicity. I follow the content published by media companies very closely and the number of articles about the Quinn family is extraordinary. This backs up the recent theory that the Quinn family are being used as a scapegoat.

The winner by far is the Independent. Ironic right? If you visit independent.ie and search 'sean quinn' you will find 2704 hits of which the majority are Anglo Irish Bank related.

Is there a bias in the media or some sort of censorship? Seems like it. Anyway its food for thought, make your own judgements.

mikom

Seaneh wrote: »

I heard someone spewing something similar to the op on the train yesterday.
Some stupid ****ing auld wan going on about how he didn't do anything wrong and it was all a witch hunt, then went on to say that the way the country is wasn't FF's fault and the current government is doing worse and we will all see sense in the next election and vote for them.

I felt like puking on the stupid bitch.

Fidelma Healy Eames needs a good puking on to be fair.......

Wudyaquit

an offshore entity wrote: »

Is there a bias in the media or some sort of censorship? Seems like it. Anyway its food for thought, make your own judgements.

There does seem to be a degree of bias, particularly among Independent newspapers.
The media were massively complicit in the bubble, fueling the boom with property sections and tv programmes about property. They never get listed in the list of usual suspects with bankers, developers and regulators, but are possibly more responsible than the bankers and developers - banks and developers too excessive risks, but that's what regulators are there to monitor and the media has an implied duty to inform and question honestly what's happening, not reflect what will sell the most copy.

I can't understand how they've managed to exclude themselves from blame, but in this case particularly, they've been very quick to present a particluar side of the argument. Tom Lyons seems to be incessant about giving half-truths in his analysis - he's as well informed as anyone on the story, if not better, so the details he leaves out that are reported elsewhere are staggering. Might just be personal bias among some journos but there are definitely some out there who don't seem too interested in balance

bonzos wrote: »

The gardai in Cavan have no interest in taking any action against any of the quinn family.....Sean Quinn sr made many a visit to the garda station with Ballyconnel over the years with booze and hampers for the boys, get real folks this is Ireland

There is no warrant out for any member of the quinn family other than Peter who it seems is out of the jurisdiction and has no link to Cavan. What is it exactly that you want the Gardai in cavan to do?

tayto lover

bonzos wrote: »

The gardai in Cavan have no interest in taking any action against any of the quinn family.....Sean Quinn sr made many a visit to the garda station with Ballyconnel over the years with booze and hampers for the boys, get real folks this is Ireland

Crap.

wendell borton

i definetly think so. He got fooled by sean fitzpatrick and his cronies along with a lot of the population including the clowns supposedly running the country into buying into the celtic tiger crap.
The debts of anglo were then nationalised in very dubious circumstances thus transfering the debts on to the irish people this is not quinns fault.
He started out with a truck and a sand pit and became the richest man in the country why not give him some time and let him work his way out of debt.
But no lets take his business and give it to some yanks and pay them to do this .

Fuinseog

musings wrote: »

I've just watched on the news that Sean Quinn's son has been sent to prison for contempt of Court.

In 2008 Sean Quinn was trying his best to buy over the fraudulent Anglo Irish Bank. At the time, he believed that this bank was a sound investment and that he should purchase shares in the bank. No doubt he believed all the hype about this wonder bank and thought that buying it over would be the jewel in a glittering business career.

Meanwhile Seanie Fitz & Co. were inside cooking the books and swapping money with Permanent TSB trying to make the bank look solvent...when as we know it was far from it.

Sean Quinn was bankrupted by Anglo management's fraudulent behaviour.

Am I the only one who wonders why Sean Quinn is being hauled through the courts and nothing has happened ANY of the bankers who mislead him into investing in the bank?

Yes, he shouldn't have gambled all his wealth on it....but at the end of the day, he was sold a pup, which bankrupted him.

I feel sympathy for the man.

I also find it deeply suspicious that Quinn insurance was found to fail solvency rules as soon as the government needed cash and generously intervened to take over this cash cow and "protect consumers"

Is this just a state sponsored witch hunt of arguably our greatest Entrepreneur?

Fingelton and Seannie Fitz also feel hard done by. these people have a complete lack of morals and standards and genuinely believed they have done nothing wrong.

tayto lover

Fuinseog wrote: »

Fingelton and Seannie Fitz also feel hard done by. these people have a complete lack of morals and standards and genuinely believed they have done nothing wrong.

Didn't Fingers look after Hulk Hogan with his interest only mortgages and wasn't Seanie a golf buddy of Cowan's and a pub-singing partner of Bertie. Why would they think otherwise. Fingers also held onto his million that he promised to return.
Lack of morals and standards are endemic in both politics and banking.

an offshore entity

The british media are now focusing on the other side of the story. More articles like this will appear over the coming weeks as people begin to question what really happened.

'They wanted to get rid of us. It was a carve-up': Seán Quinn accuses the Financial Regulator of being out to get him

Matthew Elderfield was made Financial Regulator in October 2009.

The Quinn Group presented Mr Elderfield and the late Finance Minister Brian Lenihan with a seven-year plan to repay Anglo Irish Bank.

But on March 30, 2010, following an application by the regulator, the High Court appointed joint provisional administrators to Quinn Insurance Ltd, including Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton.

Anglo also appointed KPMG as share receiver, and corporate troubleshooter Murdoch McKillop was made an interim executive director of Quinn Group in 2010.

The authorities insist they acted because Quinn Insurance persistently breached solvency rules. Séan Quin disagrees... and alleges Mr Elderfield was part of an international plot to oust him.

‘[Matthew] Elderfield came in and we come to what happened on March 30, 2010. He wanted rid of us. We weren’t popular with his friends in the FSA in the UK.

‘In 2009 we increased the cash in Quinn Direct as we had in 2008. We increased the cash in it in 2010. The outstanding claims were €20m in March 2010 but Quinn Direct had more business in the UK than in Ireland.

‘In 2010 or December 2009, [administrator] Michael McAteer came in and he was receiving lots of complaints from his colleagues in the UK, Quinn Direct was too competitive.

‘They took security on a regulated entity. Nobody can take security on a regulated entity.

‘We were a big threat, we’d started taking a lot of business in the UK. We were very competitive. We were seen as too big a threat.

‘The Government was vulnerable by then. The Taoiseach of the day was wounded. We were below his [Elderfield’s] recommended solvency. They had taken €200m off the value of our assets.

‘We had €1.1bn in cash. It was a major problem, we imported people from three continents – one from Australia, one from America, one from UK, all over the place.

‘One was a Scottish man [restructuring consultant Murdoch McKillop] that wouldn’t be a big GAA fan. He’d probably be a Rangers fan.

‘We were a highly profitable company, the regulator was wrong. Which was right? Which was right, was there a lack of solvency? McAteer was wrong.

‘The administrator came in. In 2009 there wasn’t any shortage of cash, though property assets had been reduced by €200m. Never came across.

‘A bank owned by the Government sent a receiver into Derrylin. Where they took security in a regulated entity, you can’t do that.

‘The attitude was get them out. The whole thing was a carve-up. They couldn’t accept the Quinn proposal.’

Does he believe that Matthew Elderfield was involved in a ‘carve-up?’

‘They said put your prices up. With the potential liability, if they were genuinely worried about it what they could have done was put some consultant into Quinn Direct.He didn’t do that, he [Elderfield] chose to go ex parte, and going ex parte is a bit below the belt.

‘In Naas six months ago he put a manager into Naas Credit Union. He had learned from his Quinn mistake. He didn’t appoint a receiver. In six weeks at Quinn Group he would have seen what sensible men could do.

‘We had €500m in property, which had been reduced from €700m and €1.1bn in cash.

‘We had put forward an acceptable plan. But they wanted rid of us. They got a whiff that they could do that on the Thursday or Friday of that week and they said that they were going to put us in administration, and they were not deferring it.

‘First of all, we said we were not going to walk away from that.

‘He was doing it ex parte on Tuesday morning at 10.00.

‘He would not work with Quinn. There was an agenda. We’d cash reserves, the highest reserves of any company in Europe, €1.1bn in cash and €500million in property.

‘We’d had the best quarters we’d ever had in Quinn Direct. We’d a phenomenal quarter, the best quarter we ever had despite settling claims.

‘My theory is they couldn’t get anybody into Quinn Direct. We were phenomenally profitable and if they came with an intention of getting rid of us then he had a chance to not long after.

‘We had a recovery plan…

‘They were saying Quinns had a name for being very tight..
‘We said whatever is in doubt we’ll pay it. If we’re seen as being the bad boys we’ll pay out. There’s not much I don’t know.

‘They didn’t agree with our argument that we could repay enough. There were blockages in the system, they didn’t want us back.

‘We were intent on paying back the money, it was never a problem for us.

‘We never missed a payment, I had never missed a payment
on anything, never missed a cheque. We were paying back money, they didn’t want Seán Quinn back in the insurance business. We had €30m in spare cash, yet they wanted to put us into receivership.

‘I’m a hard-nosed businessman, that if a company is paying its way, increasing profits for thirty-odd consecutive years, you don’t put it into receivership. We were way ahead of everybody else in the industry…we were in profit.

‘There were weaknesses in the system. When things went wallop they brought in strangers from three continents to run the banks, to run the regulation, to run the country.

‘We presented them with a plan. Our five kids and family would have worked seven years for nothing and take nothing from the company and pay those debts.

‘And there was absolutely zero risk to them if we were allowed to do that. We made that very clear.

‘That was put to Elderfield but I never heard what he said.

‘Some consultants were earning €1,000 an hour, which was rich pickings. Murdoch McKillop was one of them. They came in and were told the administrators would be out in six months and now we’re going on 27 months and they’re still there.

‘They must have thought all their Christmases came at once. They’ve earned €400m. They are scavengers.

‘The May/June 2010 period saw the destruction of the Quinn Group. I don’t want to say too much but they were ridiculing...talking the company down. There were 1,400 export jobs, 2,800 staff.

‘We had paid €1bn in taxes in ten years. At one point you could drive from Donegal to Wicklow and there were Quinn operations. In Donegal, Cavan, Navan, Blanchardstown, Balbriggan away to Wicklow. Now there were going to be job losses and much less competition.
WHAT THE 'ACCUSED' SAY IN REPLY

Alan Dukes, chairman of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly known as Anglo Irish Bank: ‘The Bank will decline to comment on the specific matters you highlighted in your interview with Mr Sean Quinn.’

Central Bank response: ‘The Central Bank identified serious and persistent breaches of the solvency requirements of Quinn Insurance, which the management and shareholder did not remedy.’

Michael McAteer, who was appointed as an administrator to Quinn Insurance: ‘I do not want to get into a public slanging match.’

Murdoch McKillop, financial restructuring advisor to the Quinn Group: ‘I was appointed as an independent executive director.’ Brian Cowen: ‘He does not want to comment.’

‘Anglo backed the Quinn deal but Elderfield wouldn’t agree to it and they had Liberty lined up. They knew if they didn’t take us we were going to sue them.

‘The world and crow knows that a company cannot buy its own shares. How could they come in and take our company into Northern Ireland, which is supposedly a foreign country, in military style I don’t know.

‘I’d be interested to hear their story about that.

‘There was a thirty-odd billion euro group, one of the most profitable groups in the history of the state. One of the most successful companies. It was stupidity, to save face.

‘Elderfield wants my head. I am seen as a loose cannon.

‘Murdoch McKillop seems to have gained a successful conclusion. It’s a small issue but it shows outside influence, we are big GAA supporters and followers. It is recognised and apparent.

‘Yet they cancelled the sponsorship of the Fermanagh championship, which was €2,000 or €3,000, yet they were happy to run with the Late, Late Show [advertisements].

‘They would have known we had the support of the local community. They kicked out my suppliers.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2177127/Se-n-Quinn-accuses-Financial-Regulator-Matthew-Elderfield-him.htm

SocSocPol

an offshore entity wrote: »

The british media are now focusing on the other side of the story. More articles like this will appear over the coming weeks as people begin to question what really happened.

'They wanted to get rid of us. It was a carve-up': Seán Quinn accuses the Financial Regulator of being out to get him

Matthew Elderfield was made Financial Regulator in October 2009.

The Quinn Group presented Mr Elderfield and the late Finance Minister Brian Lenihan with a seven-year plan to repay Anglo Irish Bank.

But on March 30, 2010, following an application by the regulator, the High Court appointed joint provisional administrators to Quinn Insurance Ltd, including Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton.

Anglo also appointed KPMG as share receiver, and corporate troubleshooter Murdoch McKillop was made an interim executive director of Quinn Group in 2010.

The authorities insist they acted because Quinn Insurance persistently breached solvency rules. Séan Quin disagrees... and alleges Mr Elderfield was part of an international plot to oust him.

‘[Matthew] Elderfield came in and we come to what happened on March 30, 2010. He wanted rid of us. We weren’t popular with his friends in the FSA in the UK.

‘In 2009 we increased the cash in Quinn Direct as we had in 2008. We increased the cash in it in 2010. The outstanding claims were €20m in March 2010 but Quinn Direct had more business in the UK than in Ireland.

‘In 2010 or December 2009, [administrator] Michael McAteer came in and he was receiving lots of complaints from his colleagues in the UK, Quinn Direct was too competitive.

‘They took security on a regulated entity. Nobody can take security on a regulated entity.

‘We were a big threat, we’d started taking a lot of business in the UK. We were very competitive. We were seen as too big a threat.

‘The Government was vulnerable by then. The Taoiseach of the day was wounded. We were below his [Elderfield’s] recommended solvency. They had taken €200m off the value of our assets.

‘We had €1.1bn in cash. It was a major problem, we imported people from three continents – one from Australia, one from America, one from UK, all over the place.

‘One was a Scottish man [restructuring consultant Murdoch McKillop] that wouldn’t be a big GAA fan. He’d probably be a Rangers fan.

‘We were a highly profitable company, the regulator was wrong. Which was right? Which was right, was there a lack of solvency? McAteer was wrong.

‘The administrator came in. In 2009 there wasn’t any shortage of cash, though property assets had been reduced by €200m. Never came across.

‘A bank owned by the Government sent a receiver into Derrylin. Where they took security in a regulated entity, you can’t do that.

‘The attitude was get them out. The whole thing was a carve-up. They couldn’t accept the Quinn proposal.’

Does he believe that Matthew Elderfield was involved in a ‘carve-up?’

‘They said put your prices up. With the potential liability, if they were genuinely worried about it what they could have done was put some consultant into Quinn Direct.He didn’t do that, he [Elderfield] chose to go ex parte, and going ex parte is a bit below the belt.

‘In Naas six months ago he put a manager into Naas Credit Union. He had learned from his Quinn mistake. He didn’t appoint a receiver. In six weeks at Quinn Group he would have seen what sensible men could do.

‘We had €500m in property, which had been reduced from €700m and €1.1bn in cash.

‘We had put forward an acceptable plan. But they wanted rid of us. They got a whiff that they could do that on the Thursday or Friday of that week and they said that they were going to put us in administration, and they were not deferring it.

‘First of all, we said we were not going to walk away from that.

‘He was doing it ex parte on Tuesday morning at 10.00.

‘He would not work with Quinn. There was an agenda. We’d cash reserves, the highest reserves of any company in Europe, €1.1bn in cash and €500million in property.

‘We’d had the best quarters we’d ever had in Quinn Direct. We’d a phenomenal quarter, the best quarter we ever had despite settling claims.

‘My theory is they couldn’t get anybody into Quinn Direct. We were phenomenally profitable and if they came with an intention of getting rid of us then he had a chance to not long after.

‘We had a recovery plan…

‘They were saying Quinns had a name for being very tight..
‘We said whatever is in doubt we’ll pay it. If we’re seen as being the bad boys we’ll pay out. There’s not much I don’t know.

‘They didn’t agree with our argument that we could repay enough. There were blockages in the system, they didn’t want us back.

‘We were intent on paying back the money, it was never a problem for us.

‘We never missed a payment, I had never missed a payment
on anything, never missed a cheque. We were paying back money, they didn’t want Seán Quinn back in the insurance business. We had €30m in spare cash, yet they wanted to put us into receivership.

‘I’m a hard-nosed businessman, that if a company is paying its way, increasing profits for thirty-odd consecutive years, you don’t put it into receivership. We were way ahead of everybody else in the industry…we were in profit.

‘There were weaknesses in the system. When things went wallop they brought in strangers from three continents to run the banks, to run the regulation, to run the country.

‘We presented them with a plan. Our five kids and family would have worked seven years for nothing and take nothing from the company and pay those debts.

‘And there was absolutely zero risk to them if we were allowed to do that. We made that very clear.

‘That was put to Elderfield but I never heard what he said.

‘Some consultants were earning €1,000 an hour, which was rich pickings. Murdoch McKillop was one of them. They came in and were told the administrators would be out in six months and now we’re going on 27 months and they’re still there.

‘They must have thought all their Christmases came at once. They’ve earned €400m. They are scavengers.

‘The May/June 2010 period saw the destruction of the Quinn Group. I don’t want to say too much but they were ridiculing...talking the company down. There were 1,400 export jobs, 2,800 staff.

‘We had paid €1bn in taxes in ten years. At one point you could drive from Donegal to Wicklow and there were Quinn operations. In Donegal, Cavan, Navan, Blanchardstown, Balbriggan away to Wicklow. Now there were going to be job losses and much less competition.
WHAT THE 'ACCUSED' SAY IN REPLY

Alan Dukes, chairman of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly known as Anglo Irish Bank: ‘The Bank will decline to comment on the specific matters you highlighted in your interview with Mr Sean Quinn.’

Central Bank response: ‘The Central Bank identified serious and persistent breaches of the solvency requirements of Quinn Insurance, which the management and shareholder did not remedy.’

Michael McAteer, who was appointed as an administrator to Quinn Insurance: ‘I do not want to get into a public slanging match.’

Murdoch McKillop, financial restructuring advisor to the Quinn Group: ‘I was appointed as an independent executive director.’ Brian Cowen: ‘He does not want to comment.’

‘Anglo backed the Quinn deal but Elderfield wouldn’t agree to it and they had Liberty lined up. They knew if they didn’t take us we were going to sue them.

‘The world and crow knows that a company cannot buy its own shares. How could they come in and take our company into Northern Ireland, which is supposedly a foreign country, in military style I don’t know.

‘I’d be interested to hear their story about that.

‘There was a thirty-odd billion euro group, one of the most profitable groups in the history of the state. One of the most successful companies. It was stupidity, to save face.

‘Elderfield wants my head. I am seen as a loose cannon.

‘Murdoch McKillop seems to have gained a successful conclusion. It’s a small issue but it shows outside influence, we are big GAA supporters and followers. It is recognised and apparent.

‘Yet they cancelled the sponsorship of the Fermanagh championship, which was €2,000 or €3,000, yet they were happy to run with the Late, Late Show [advertisements].

‘They would have known we had the support of the local community. They kicked out my suppliers.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2177127/Se-n-Quinn-accuses-Financial-Regulator-Matthew-Elderfield-him.htm

Sean Quinn is a chancer, conman and scam artist.
Sooner he is locked up the better.

an offshore entity

'Sean Quinn is a chancer, conman and scam artist. Sooner he is locked up the better.'

Thanks for the contribution to the board.

Not sure about the validity of your comments or what you based them on. A common trait of an Entrepreneur's is being a risk taker. I will interpret 'chancer' as being someone who takes risks. I agree with you on this one based on the high level of risk attributed to Contract for Difference (CFD) dealing in Anglo Irish Bank shares.

The other two points 'conman' and 'scam artist' I am not fimilar with. This maybe a personal opinion, which is still free speech and welcomed. What is your thoughts on the failure of Anglo Irish Bank? Who is responsible for this?

SocSocPol

an offshore entity wrote: »

'Sean Quinn is a chancer, conman and scam artist. Sooner he is locked up the better.'

Thanks for the contribution to the board.

Not sure about the validity of your comments or what you based them on. A common trait of an Entrepreneur's is being a risk taker. I will interpret 'chancer' as being someone who takes risks. I agree with you on this one based on the high level of risk attributed to Contract for Difference (CFD) dealing in Anglo Irish Bank shares.

The other two points 'conman' and 'scam artist' I am not fimilar with. This maybe a personal opinion, which is still free speech and welcomed. What is your thoughts on the failure of Anglo Irish Bank? Who is responsible for this?

I would refer you to the Judgement given on this man and his family by Ms.Justice Dunne.
Youre real name wouldn't be Quinn would it?

mikom

an offshore entity wrote: »

Not sure about the validity of your comments or what you based them on. A common trait of an Entrepreneur's is being a risk taker.

And a common trait of a scumbag is to hide what he has whilst leaving everybody else to pick up the tab.

an offshore entity

SocSocPol wrote: »

I would refer you to the Judgement given on this man and his family by Ms.Justice Dunne.
Youre real name wouldn't be Quinn would it?

Interesting interpretation of court decision!?!

I am completely impartial. I do not favour either party. However, I do believe that those responsible for the failure of Anglo should also stand in a seperate trial. This does not seem likely to happen. I am simply asking why?