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

The Irish Times (Simon Carswell) have now just rewritten the RTE article and posted it on their Irish Times website - without giving RTE any credit for the findings on how much the properties raised. Carswell is also claiming that RTE did not take account of the sale of the golf resort properties. They're the only ones pushing it, and this guy is just rehashing their work and buying what the AIB sold him. Who is this Carswell guy? See below.

The sale of three properties linked to former hurling star DJ Carey raised €1.8 million, most of which went towards a €9.5 million judgment debt secured by AIB, figures show.

Two houses at the K Club resort in Co Kildare and a third house in Mount Juliet in Co Kilkenny were sold in 2014 and 2015 following the court judgment obtained by the bank in 2011.

AIB is estimated to have received about €1.7 million from the sale proceeds that went towards reducing his debt after professional and other fees arising from the transactions were covered.

RTÉ reported last week that AIB reached an agreement to settle Mr Carey’s remaining debts of €60,000, representing a 99.37 per cent reduction on his €9.5 million judgment debt to the bank.

However, the report did not take account of the sale of the golf resort properties.

The proceeds from the property sales and the €60,000 settlement represent a debt write down of just over 80 per cent on the total value of the outstanding debt Mr Carey owed to the bank.

The bank declined to comment on queries about the property sales from The Irish Times.

In response to recent criticism of Mr Carey’s debt settlement, the bank’s managing director of retail banking Jim O’Keeffe told staff in a circular sent on Tuesday that AIB exhausts “all appropriate avenues” to recover debts from “any available secured assets.”

Most of the bank’s judgment against Mr Carey, some €7.85 million, related to a Celtic Tiger-era loan to buy the properties at the K Club and Mount Juliet prior to the property crash when homes at the five-star golf resorts were selling for multimillion euro sums.

Mr Carey’s house at the Mount Juliet golf resort, 5 The Inch, was sold for €799,000 in July 2014.

Land Registry records show that he became owner of the property in May 2008 and that his ownership was cancelled in September 2014 following the sale of the property.

One of the K Club houses, 908 Ladycastle, was sold for €717,000 in August 2015. Land Registry records show that Mr Carey was registered as the owner of the property in April 2006 and his ownership was cancelled in January 2016 following the sale of the house the previous year.

AIB’s charge against the property, dating back to October 2007, was also cancelled with the sale of the home, indicating that some of the bank’s debt was satisfied from the sale.

Mr Carey reportedly bought the four-bedroom property for about €3 million in 2005. The K Club property overlooked a course at the resort that hosted the 2006 Ryder Cup tournament.

Another judgment mortgage in favour of Bessilton Holdings, one of the K Club services management companies, and Ladycastle Management Company against Mr Carey arising from a 2012 Circuit Court case relating to outstanding debt was also cancelled with the property’s sale.

The second property at the K Club, 821 Ladycastle, was sold for €285,000 in December 2014.

Mr Carey had signed a personal guarantee agreeing to repay AIB €1.5 million borrowed by his then partner, businesswoman Sarah Newman, against this property.

Ms Newman, who was also subject to the AIB judgment for €9.5 million in 2011, filed for bankruptcy in the UK in 2016.

<admin snip> is small potatoes. The AIB is the big fish here.

Something stinks here. Big time. Who is buying these properties at these prices? Is there tip offs? What's the musical chairs going? Is it these elite celebrity business heads tied to bankers and politicians? Something is rotten.

A full list of how many of these write downs have been provided over the last ten years needs to come out. And a list of recurring buyers needs also to be found.