Seán Dunne claims media ‘hounded’ wife and family from US home

Businessman Seán Dunne has told the High Court his main residence in 2013 and beyond was a house in Connecticut, in the United States, from which his wife and family were “hounded” by the media.

When counsel for his Irish bankruptcy official put to him the house had been empty and agents for the US trustee administering his bankruptcy there had observed it had no furniture, Mr Dunne said he “didn’t need furniture to live in a house”.

He said he had, on occasions, lived without furniture, adding that he had previously stayed in tents in African townships.

He has co-operated with the official in charge of his Irish bankruptcy, he told Ms Justice Caroline Costello.

Mr Dunne said his wife Gayle and their family had to leave the Connecticut home in 2013 because they were being “hounded by the media” shortly after he was adjudicated a bankrupt. He believed private investigators working for his creditors had leaked the address to the media.

Ulster Bank petitioned the High Court in 2013 to have Mr Dunne adjudicated bankrupt here after he had defaulted on some €164 million loans.

The following month, Mr Dunne filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut when he claimed to have debts of $1 billion and assets of $55 million. Arising out of that application, a US bankruptcy trustee was appointed by a US court.

The Irish bankruptcy proceedings continued and in July 2013 the High Court here adjudicated Mr Dunne bankrupt.

He was due to exit bankruptcy here in July 2016 but his bankruptcy has been continued pending the outcome of an application by his bankruptcy official, Chris Lehane, to extend it over alleged non co-operation with Mr Lehane’s efforts to administer the bankruptcy.

‘De facto co-operation’

The extension application opened last week and Mr Dunne began his evidence on Tuesday before Ms Justice Caroline Costello.

He said he had given, through the US trustee in bankruptcy, “de facto co-operation” to Mr Lehane and denied he had not co-operated with the process.

Mr Dunne said he believed in 2013 that his bankruptcy, adjudication and estate were all to be vested in the US but he was adjudicated bankrupt in Ireland.

He said the US trustee and his lawyer went “behind my back” and changed the rules without telling him.

Under cross-examination on sworn statements he has provided in opposition to the extension application, he rejected an assertion by Mark Sanfey SC, for Mr Lehane, that he had never provided the official assignee with his address.

After a transcript of his June 2016 interview with Mr Lehane was put to him, he said that, following his bankruptcy adjudication in 2013, his primary place of residence was a property at Stillman Lane, Greenwich, Connecticut, and he lived in the US.

He said he had provided an address and had always turned up when required. He had looked at the Irish bankruptcy regulations and could not find any requirement to inform the official assignee of the place where he was living.

He said that his family had left the property in August/September 2013 due to media harassment but he continued to spend time there. He also spent time with his son in New York as well as in Ireland and England.

When counsel said it was important for the official assignee to know where a bankrupt is living as part of the bankruptcy process, Mr Dunne asked if it mattered where he lived and what was the relevance to his creditors.

“If I lived in Windsor Castle, does that mean I have access to the queen’s money?” he said.

He said the house in Connecticut was rented out in early 2017 and recently he has been spending more time in Ireland and the UK compared with the US.

The hearing continues.