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Mob moll Pamela Coone’s beauty firm set up with drugs money due to be struck off

Beauty company used by drug dealer to wash dirty cash is listed for strike off after CAB’s probe

Today at 09:42

The beauty firm run by drug dealer John Coone’s wife has been listed for strike off after huge sums of criminal cash were used to set it up.

Pamela Coone’s Riverview Aesthetics, which offers lip fillers and Botox treatments, was described as money laundering vehicle in a Criminal Assets Bureau case this week.

While €220,000 went through the accounts controlled by Pamela Coone, the salon’s appointment book was mostly empty.

In fact, she had a registered income of just €2,000 from one year of the company’s operation and even expanded the firm with a second premises after CAB had carried out searches in 2020.

The unexplained sums of money used to fit out the commercial unit in Bandon, Co Cork and to buy equipment were cited in the court case this week, which the Coones did not contest.

Riverview Aesthetics was listed for strike off 10 days ago, according to company records.

Social media accounts associated with the business appear to be still active but calls to the advertised number went unanswered.

The Sunday World previously revealed how it was the Coones’ lifestyle that first alerted gardai, who suspected that John Coone had graduated from street dealer to a major drugs boss in the south west in just a few years.

The couple continued to flash the cash despite the attention of CAB and being at the centre of one of the biggest raids in rural Ireland in recent criminal history.

In February 2020, 120 gardai searched 21 premises.

They first searched 11 residential dwellings, including the rental property in west Cork where the Coones lived.

Four business premises and a garage were searched, as were offices of solicitors and accountants.

A hotel, where a man gardai suspected of selling cocaine regularly stays, was also subject to a search.

But just 18 months later Pamela announced that she was pumping more assets into the business, building her brand and opening a second premises.

She wrote on the firm’s website: “Riverview Aesthetics are excited to share our wonderful news. We are expanding. We will now be offering our extensive range of aesthetics and laser services in Cork.”

CAB said John Coone was using the business and a car dealership, which were funded and set up by him, to launder his money.

Despite legitimate income of €15,000 over 15 years the couple were able to enjoy extensive trips to Malaga, Tenerife, Malta and Lapland.

The couple also embarked on a luxury six-week trip to Santorini in Greece during the coronavirus pandemic.

The pair’s lifestyle and spending were part of the case by CAB, which also looked into Coone’s mother Eileen and brother Kieran.

As well as luxury holidays, it emerged that Coone blew thousands on gambling — losing €30,000 on a BoyleSports account, and lodging €68,000 with Paddy Power.

Described in evidence as a career criminal involved in drug dealing, Coone has 47 criminal convictions, including for the sale and supply of drugs.

In an affidavit, CAB chief Michael Gubbins asserted that Coone had been given custodial sentences 18 times and had been found close “to the action” of drug dealing activities on a number of occasions.

This included once being stopped in a car being used to smuggle €140,000 worth of heroin.

The case focused on seized cash, several bank accounts, a Land Rover, a Kia Sportage, a VW Passat, a Skoda Superb and several Louis Vuitton bags.

Counsel for CAB told the court that the case against Coone “boils down to there is little in the way of legitimate income.”

During raids carried out in February 2021 evidence was found of a property purchase in Bulgaria which CAB said is indicative of Coone’s wealth.

Judge Alex Owens said the evidence shows John Coone had access to “substantial income streams” over a number of years. He said the obvious source of the money flowing into his wife and mother’s bank accounts was his drug dealing and that he has been “a significant drug-dealer.”

The couple lived an “exotic lifestyle” with no known source to fund it and enjoyed a life of luxury.

Judge Owens said he had little option other than to rule the assets as being derived from crime and accept the evidence from the bureau’s Chief Officer.