"GAA star in alleged scam" Mod Note on page 1 and 2

Your last paragraph sounds like <admin snip> is the first such person for this to happen too people have short memories.

The below from the IT - I think sticks to the facts.

Denis O’Brien provides gardaí with extensive details of GAA star’s alleged fraud

Businessman provided man with large sums of cash and use of properties

As well as handing over cash, Denis O'Brien allowed the man under investigation to use property he owned. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh/The Irish Times

Denis O’Brien has provided gardaí with extensive information on a former GAA star under investigation for widespread fraud.

The sportsman made a number of approaches to the businessman who agreed to help him.

He allegedly requested large amounts of cash in the form of payments and loans from the billionaire, claiming he needed it to fund his cancer treatment. As well as handing over large sums of cash, Mr O’Brien also agreed to let the man use some of his properties, The Irish Times understands.

It is understood the businessman was eager to help the man and did not seek proof of his illness or the treatment costs.

Mr O’Brien is assisting the Garda with the investigation and has spoken with detectives from the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) about his dealings with the sports star. He has provided them with extensive information, including details of the financial transactions and his contacts with the man.

A spokesman for Mr O’Brien said on Sunday he had no comment to make on the matter.

The billionaire is one of many people allegedly approached by the sports star. Several of these have already made Garda statements.

Detectives are understood to be eager to speak to the sportsman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and are waiting for an appropriate opportunity. No arrests have been made to date.

The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau is investigating whether the retired player deceived friends and business acquaintances into lending him money for medical and other bills.

Detectives are examining whether or not he falsely claimed that he had cancer when he approached people looking for money. The prominent former player is understood to have agreed loan arrangements with those from whom he took the money.

The sums involved range from a few thousand euro to more than €100,000. The sums he received from Mr O’Brien are believed to amount to tens of thousands of euro.

Efforts to contact the former GAA star for comment have proven unsuccessful. He has not responded to queries by email concerning his financial dealings.

It was known within his local community that the former star regularly claimed to own land overseas and that he was about to sell it netting him a financial windfall.

In more recent years, he told people who loaned him money that he was due to receive an insurance payout on a medical negligence claim.

According to one GAA official, the sportsman was seeking money for treatment as far back as a decade ago.

The one-time official, from the GAA’s Asian branch, approached the sports star in 2013 with a view to inviting him to be a guest at the annual GAA finals in Asia in Malaysia that year.

The invite was made in person to the retired player on the fringes of the 2013 All Ireland football final at Croke Park, during a meeting with another former GAA star.

Towards the end of discussions, the retired athlete requested an appearance fee of €10,000. This was rejected and the sports star was told that only travel and other expenses would be paid.

The former player then said that he had a serious cancer condition, which could only be treated in the US and that the money would be going toward his treatment.

I'd be weary of what that tabloid publishes.

I wonder does O'Brien still possess the same power to block stories...

Apparently, the K Club properties and Mount Juliet property reached around 7 million during an economic crash? Would they get that kind of money? That RTE report seems to have caused more trouble. Looks to have been addressed here below.

AIB has addressed the controversy around the bank’s debt write-down for hurling star DJ Carey telling staff in an internal memo that it exhausts “all appropriate avenues” to recover debts.

In the circular, the bank’s head of retail banking, Jim O’Keeffe, did not name Mr Carey, saying that he could not comment on individual cases for legal reasons, but told staff that he wanted to clarify AIB’s approach to debt write-downs in light of “commentary in recent days.”

In the memo, seen by The Irish Times, Mr O’Keeffe told staff that “some of the external commentary over recent days does not provide the full picture” and that the bank had a “robust governance process for debt resolution and this process was followed”.

RTÉ reported last Friday that Mr Carey’s debt judgment of €9.5 million was written down with a settlement of €60,000, which the broadcaster said represented a 99.4 per cent write-down on the original debt.

However, the report did not take account of the sale of golf resort properties securing the debt at the K Club in Co Kildare and at Mount Juliet in Co Kilkenny in the years after the 2011 judgment and how the sale proceeds went towards the reduction of Mr Carey’s debt to the bank.

It is estimated that Mr Carey’s €9.5 million debt to the bank was written down by about 80 per cent after the sale of the golf resort properties and the €60,000 settlement are taken into account.

The judgment was secured in 2011 mostly on a €7.85 million loan to Mr Carey secured on the properties at the K Club and Mount Juliet golf resorts.

In the wake of the report on Mr Carey’s write-down, Government ministers and opposition politicians called for AIB to appear before the Oireachtas finance committee to answer questions on the bank’s debt agreement with the hurling star.

In his memo, Mr O’Keeffe set out the procedures followed by the bank to recover debts where AIB has secured a judgment against a borrower over outstanding debts.

“In situations where the legal system is ultimately required to resolve cases, we may seek judgment to allow us dispose of the secured assets and wider assets if appropriate, he said.

“In such cases, the process seeks to exhaust all appropriate avenues to realise value of the bank from any available secured assets.”

Mr O’Keeffe told staff in the circular sent to thousands of AIB staff on Tuesday that the bank may also “take account of third party certification as to a borrower’s income and asset status and may also consider other documentation relating to the borrower’s personal circumstances”.

He said that “where customers are in financial difficulty, our resolution process is based on their ability to repay, taking account of the customers’ assets and their sustainable income levels”.

This approach had been applied to more than 150,000 customer cases over many years “in a fair and consistent manner” and that “the vast majority” were able to meet their new arrangements and “move on with their personal and business lives”.

It's amusing the amount of people that think just because someone was an all star that qualifies them for a debt write down.

Those South county Dublin bank execs wouldn't know one end of a hurl from the other!

The lad has no job or skills so what could they do take 20 per week from his dole!!

In the memo, seen by The Irish Times, Mr O’Keeffe told staff that ............ the bank had a “robust governance process for debt resolution and this process was followed”.

I look forward to this "robust governance process" getting examined by a Dail Committee and seeing just how robust it was.