The Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) is to return some €4 million to the victims of deceased American fraudster Matthew Wallace Schachter who lived in Ireland and had been under investigation here since 2004.
He defrauded some $24 million (€17 million) from mostly US and Canadian citizens by selling them bogus insurance policies.
In the High Court yesterday Mr Justice Kevin Feeney granted an order to the Cab under Section 3 of the Proceeds of Crime Act allowing the bureau return the deceased's Irish estate to his victims in the US and Canada.
The funds comprise some €3.5 million which was found on deposit in Irish banks.
The remaining €500,000 comes from the proceeds of the sale of a lakeside holiday home on almost two acres in Kenmare, Co Kerry, where Schachter lived before his death aged 59 in 2005.
The house was seized by the Cab earlier this year and sold in August for €500,000.
The judge granted permission to the receiver, the Cab's legal officer Frank Cassidy, and bureau head, Det Chief Supt John O'Mahoney, to return the money to a victims' fund.
The order was the first in the bureau's 11-year history in which money realised in an assets action was returned to the victims of the person targeted.
A small portion of the estate, estimated at some €100,000, is to be retained by the Cab to cover the costs of its action.
Schachter defrauded US, Canadian citizens and insurance companies between 2000 and 2004 through bogus insurance firms he established in the Caribbean.
He sold and renewed insurance policies and collected premiums. However, while he paid out minor claims to bolster his credibility as a legitimate operator, he would not pay out on more substantial claims.
Under an alias, Robert Lewis Brown, Schachter incorporated two fraudulent companies, Tri-Continental Exchange Ltd and Combined Services Ltd in St Vincent and The Grenadines.
Both had shelf companies which were almost identical to the names of legitimate licensed companies.
They took advantaged of the name similarities by falsely claiming these legitimate insurers were providing the insurance cover.
Gardaí first became aware of Schachter living in Ireland when contacted by the US revenue authorities in March 2004 in the course of a criminal investigation it was conducting.
He was found to be living here under his alias and had an Irish driving licence under the name Robert Brown.
He travelled to Canada later in 2004 where he was arrested in September of that year. The following February he was extradited to Sacramento, California, where he died from cancer.
In the four years to May 2004, just under $24 million had been deposited into a US bank account in the name of one of his companies, of which some $19 million was generated from the sale of bogus insurance policies.
Some $10 million was transferred to accounts in Ireland and Jersey with the remaining money spent by Schachter and a small group of associates.
The Cab's investigations, showed direct links between the $10 million transferred and the cash on deposit here and Kenmare property.