The US bankruptcy of Seán Dunne, the former “Baron of Ballsbridge” whose property development business collapsed at the end of the Celtic Tiger era with huge debts, yielded just $27.5 million (€23.8 million) to be shared among creditors, US court records show.
At the end of the 12-year bankruptcy process in the US, the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), Ireland’s State-owned “bad bank” to which property-related debts were moved from Irish banks, is to receive just $6 million from Dunne’s US bankruptcy trustee, Richard Coan, in settlement of claims totalling $438 million.
Ulster Bank Ireland, which claimed $428 million, is also to receive just $6 million, a final report filed by Mr Coan in the Bankruptcy Court in Bridgeport, Connecticut shows.
The list of assets disclosed by the trustee to the US court include golf clubs, skis, a watch, wedding band, cuff links, three 10-year tickets for rugby matches at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin as well as tickets for rugby matches at Twickenham Stadium, London, and the Millennium Stadium (now Principality Stadium), Cardiff.
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Miscellaneous household furnishings at Dunne’s former home at 20A Shrewsbury Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, are given a notional value of $10,000 and an estimated net value of zero in the report.
The watch, wedding band and cuff links are given an estimated net value of $6,050 while the golf clubs, skis and ski boots were given an estimated net value of $1,000.
The summary of the trustee’s final report shows he collected $27.5 million, has already made approved disbursements of $11.4 million and has a balance of $16 million.
Of this, a proposed payment of $1.9 million is to be made to Mr Dunne’s first wife, Jennifer Coyle, and $925,306 to his second wife, Gayle Killilea, who have what are described in the document as “priority claims”.
After these proposed payments and administrative expenses, there is a remaining balance of $12.38 million for dividends to what are described as general, unsecured claims, which include the claims from Nama and Ulster Bank. Bank of Scotland, with a claim of $9.5 million, is to receive $135,530, according to the trustee’s report.
