ANGLO IRISH Bank has raised doubts over the legitimacy of its former executive David Drumm’s residency status in in the United States.
The bank, which is owed €8.5 million by Mr Drumm, is seeking an order from the Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court that he present himself at the offices of Anglo’s Boston attorneys to be questioned. It is also seeking an order that he produce documentation.
Mr Drumm is seeking to have himself declared a bankrupt by the US courts and a meeting of his creditors, of which Anglo is the largest, is scheduled to take place in Boston next Tuesday. Mr Drumm’s move to have himself declared bankrupt came as a surprise to the bank, which had been seeking to recover its money through the Dublin courts.
But a filing by it to the US courts on Thursday indicates it is seeking to undermine Mr Drumm’s efforts. It submitted a lengthy schedule of matters it wants to question Mr Drumm about including his residency status, disclosures made in his application for an E-2 visa in 2009 and the extent to which he now complies with his visa requirements.
An E-2 visa is a non-immigrant visa for people who go to the US for the purpose of developing and managing a business with which they have a vested interest. To qualify for the visa, the applicant must have invested or plan to invest a substantial amount of capital. The bank wants to be able to question Mr Drumm about about his investment in and dealings with Delta Corporate Finance, formerly Harborlight Capital, its profits, its current trading status and number of employees.
In a filing, Mr Drumm has said he has been a manager of the Boston business for the past 18 months. He gave his gross income from this work as $9,000 per month. In the same filing he said the balance in Delta’s bank account was $474.36, which he listed under his schedule of assets.
Anglo wants to question Mr Drumm about his use of his earnings between 2004 and 2009, which it puts at €12.997 million, and his use of all loans he took out.
It wants to question him about property investments in the US, including the creation of a trust which owns his family home in Wellesley, Massachusetts. It wants to question him about his property dealings in Ireland, including the transfer of his home in Abington, Malahide, Co Dublin, to his wife Lorraine’s name in May 2009 and improvements claimed by Susan Drumm in relation to a property in Skerries, Co Dublin.
In his filings Mr Drumm said he owed his wife $210,347 arising from “various loans”. Anglo wants to question him about what income his wife has that would permit such loans, her contribution to family expenses and details about her employment. It wants to question him about his co-operation with authorities in Ireland in relation to various inquiries being conducted into Anglo.