‘Irish Boys’ gang in Australia court over €2.6m scam

Aaron East, one of the "Irish Boys," an alleged investment crime gang in Queensland, Australia boasted "they feel the pain, we take the plane" a court heard on Tuesday.

Three of the four men who were arrested in a series of raids on Monday were granted bail at the Southport magistrates court on the Gold Coast.

Magistrate John Costanzo allowed Aaron East (36), his brother Daniel East (32) and Steifan Ceitinn (33) bail subject to strict conditions.

Aaron East will need to provide a $150,000 (€100,000) surety, his brother Daniel a surety of $200,000 and Steifan Ceitinn $300,000.

They will next appear in court on September 15th.

Police opposed bail, arguing they were a flight risk and could commit further crimes.

Chris Nyst, the lawyers representing the Easts and Ceitinn, said the allegations were being "dressed up to be something that it isn't".

He said they operated in an “industry where complaints are common”.

The fourth man arrested on Monday, Neil McKenny (34) made no application for bail and will appear later this month.

The gang, whom local media are calling the “shamrock shysters”, allegedly used high-pressure “boiler room” tactics to scam people to invest in what was said to be high-return investments or computer software that could predict commodities market movements.

One of the seven companies allegedly operated by the Irish Boys syndicate was called CCG Markets, which for $20,000 offered investors “powerful trading software”.

The Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) has identified 150 alleged victims of CCG Markets and other Irish Boys companies.

The court heard they had allegedly taken more than $18 million from “unassuming victims” since 2006.

They have been charged for alleged frauds totalling around $4 million committed between January 2014 and last weekend.

“We will allege this syndicate operated in an organised manner and we believe their primary motive was to defraud money from the public,” CCC acting executive director crime Michael Scott said.

“The law enforcement action … will stop more Australians from falling victim to these bogus investment schemes. To date, we have identified over 150 victims but believe there are more. The CCC will allege that these active boiler rooms sold fraudulent computer software and managed investment schemes.

“The companies behind this syndicate used techniques to deceive people including the use of virtual offices, false identities, fake receptionists and fake testimonials,” he said.