Former Custom House Capital CEO appeals fraud sentence

Updated / Tuesday, 16 Jul 2024 18:38

The former chief executive of Custom House Capital (CHC), jailed for his role in a sophisticated €61m conspiracy to defraud investors in the firm over a decade ago, has appealed his prison term, arguing it was wrong for a judge to “pluck” a headline sentence of 14 years “out of the air”.

Harry Cassidy, 68, of Clon Brugh, Aitkens Village, Stepaside, Dublin, pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to defraud investors in, and clients and customers of, CHC by intentionally misleading them as to where and/or how their assets had been placed contrary to common law.

All of the offences occurred within the State on dates between 1 October 2008 and 15 July 2011.

A total of 197 victim impact statements were submitted at the sentence hearing, where CHC clients spoke of the financial losses they had suffered and of the emotional and psychological effects they and their loved ones had faced over the last ten years.

Judge Orla Crowe began with a headline term of 14 years when Cassidy was sentenced at Dublin Circuit Court last May but reduced this to seven years after taking mitigation into consideration.

Cassidy was also given credit for the two months he spent in custody in Germany, giving him an effective sentence of six years and ten months.

The court previously heard that CHC had entered agreements to buy properties in mainland Europe at the time of the financial crash.

In 2008, CHC began to use client funds to meet these obligations, often without the knowledge or authorisation of clients.

CHC’s liquidator Kieran Wallace said €61m in client funds were found to have been misappropriated.