Court case shines spotlight on couple's debts and complex financial dealings

BACKGROUND:Details of the couple's extensive property and business interests were revealed in court

THE FINANCIAL difficulties of former hurling star DJ Carey and his partner Sarah Newman were again thrown into the spotlight yesterday with the news that the couple have been ordered to pay more than €9 million to AIB.

Yesterday’s developments shed further light on the complex inter-related nature of the couple’s financial situation.

Whispers about the couple’s financial problems surfaced earlier this year, when the cleaning business operated by Carey for almost 17 years, and of which Newman had been a director since 2009, ran into difficulty.

In February, three interconnected companies (DJ Carey Enterprises, Alton and Dublin Janitorial Centre) were liquidated, leaving debts of €1.7 million. Carey himself was one of the largest creditors, having lent €600,000 of his own money to the company, while Ulster Bank was owed €170,000.

The wind-down of the company was also overshadowed by an investigation into up to €200,000 in “unauthorised transactions” which had been uncovered by the auditors of the company.

DJ’s sister Caitríona Carey (33), a former international hockey player, had been director of her brother’s cleaning company between 2001 and 2009.

She left in 2009 and subsequently set up her own cleaning company with her mother Maura.

Since the liquidation of DJ Carey’s cleaning business, part of the business has been bought by Co Galway-based cleaning company Western Hygiene.

DJ now works for that company.

While the demise of Carey’s cleaning business may be regarded as an example of another small business falling victim to the recession, yesterday’s judgment gives an insight into the personal debts of the couple.

The judgment of €9.5 million against Carey relates to a €7.85 million mortgage loan taken out by him in April 2007 which was secured on properties in the K Club and Mount Juliet, plus a guarantee of up to €1.5 million given by Carey on Newman’s liabilities.

Carey has not been making his repayments on the 20-year mortgage since January, the court was told.

The judgment against Newman related to her guarantee of up to €7.85 million of Carey’s liabilities, as well as her own mortgage loan of €1.5 million.

Carey was granted a four-week stay on his judgment to allow him time to come to an arrangement with the bank.

However, this was refused in the case of Newman, on the back of the bank’s concerns about its ability to execute judgment over property in another jurisdiction.

Newman’s property in the Swiss Alps – named Chalet Grace after her daughter – is currently on the market through Savills Alpine Homes for £10.5 million (€12 million).

According to a recent feature in the Financial Times, the 450 square metre chalet, which was completed in 2008, rents in peak season for £42,800 a week.

Newman is best known for her role on the popular RTÉ television series Dragon’s Den.

In 2006 she sold her start-up business needahotel.com for a sum rumoured to be close to €60 million, although the exact figure has never been revealed.

Neither Carey nor Newman were present in court yesterday. Because both consented to judgment, further details about the loans are unlikely to emerge as might be the case if the defendants had contested the claim.