Drumm asks for more time to outline reasons for appeal

Former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm has asked a US court for more time to outline his reasons why it should overturn a bankruptcy judge’s ruling blocking a write-off of his debts.

Mr Drumm lodged papers in the US District Court in Massachusetts saying that a February 9th deadline was too soon to file an opening brief outlining why he is seeking to overturn the ruling by bankruptcy judge Frank Bailey denying him a discharge.

Lawyers for Mr Drumm told the court that he was appealing a 122-page ruling following a lengthy bankruptcy trial that involved more than 200 exhibits of evidence and “complex legal and factual issues”. Under these circumstances, a period of two weeks to prepare his opening brief was “insufficient,” his lawyers told the court.

They argued that the date was also premature and that he should have been given 30 days to file. His lawyers said the briefing order setting the date was issued late on Monday, on the eve of a snowstorm.

Mr Drumm asked to be allowed to make oral arguments if Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo, and the bankruptcy trustee oppose his application to delay the filing of his opening brief.

Judge Bailey said Mr Drumm (48) should remain liable for his remaining debts of about €9.5 million after finding that he transferred cash and property to his wife to hinder, delay and defraud his creditors. He said that the former banker was “not remotely credible” and that his statements to the court were replete with “outright lies.”