![Court of Appeal found Harry Cassidy had been a 'driver of [CHC's] corporate culture, at least at senior level, of concealment and dishonesty'. Photograph: Paddy Cummins](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/USH6ELX6UNEKBDEK2IYGZHUTHA.jpg?auth=28f11eda464073a8d6e3b80db293ccff9db6d4898f281166f160381c5d0fd2b9&smart=true&width=1024&height=609)
Disgraced Custom House Capital (CHC) boss Harry Cassidy “must pay his debt to society”, a judge has said as the Court of Appeal upheld his jail term for a €61 million conspiracy to defraud investors.
The three-judge court on Monday found no credibility in Cassidy’s argument that his primary motivation was to borrow “from Peter to pay Paul” in the hope that “things would come right eventually” and that he had not acted solely for personal gain.
Cassidy, with an address at Clon Brugh, Aitkens Village, Stepaside, Dublin, is serving a six year and 10 month sentence after he 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.
The offences took place between October 1st, 2008 and July 15th, 2011.
Dublin Circuit Court previously heard that CHC had entered agreements to buy properties in continental 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 €61 million in client funds were found to have been misappropriated. Of this, €41 million (64 per cent) has been recovered, with clients having received €39 million by March 2023.
A total of €253.4 million across more than 3,000 accounts was held by the company on the date of liquidation, with the process expected to continue into 2025.
Delivering the Court of Appeal’s judgment in Dublin, Mr Justice John Edwards said it had been “truly egregious offending which caused devastation in the lives of nearly 200 people”.
What was done in the conspiracy “was an abuse of clients’ trust, including that of many elderly clients who had entrusted their life savings to the appellant and his company… in the belief that they could depend on the honesty, integrity and professionalism of those concerned”.
Cassidy “was a professional man who well knew the standards of behaviour expected of him”, the court held, adding that the need to maintain public confidence in the investment sector made general deterrence an “incontestable” requirement in passing sentence.
One argument raised by Cassidy’s legal team was that the offending had been part of an attempt to keep the company afloat. However, the court held: “It could not credibly be suggested that [Cassidy’s] primary motivation was not a self-serving one.”
Cassidy had been a “strong dominating personality” in the firm and a “driver of its corporate culture, at least at senior level, of concealment and dishonesty”.
Cassidy’s position had been that the that the overall severity of the jail term imposed had been both “disproportionate” and “crushing”, the court noted. “We do not agree. This was very serious offending that required to be appropriately punished,” the court held.
It considered the initial halving of the headline sentence of 14 years to be “generous” – and that, in conjunction with the further discounting of Mr Cassidy’s time on remand in Germany, “adequately took into account the mitigation available to the appellant, including his age and state of health”.
“He was 67 years of age at the time of sentencing. There are many offenders older than that in our prisons, and he cannot be said to have no hope of a life after prison. He must, however, pay his debt to society,” Mr Justice Edwards said.
The sentencing court had heard from scores of CHC clients who 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 10 years. Some statements also outlined the devastating impact of the loss of savings and investments intended to provide a pension.
The nephew of one German victim told the court that his aunt’s life’s work was “effectively stolen” by Cassidy, who he said “did more damage” to her life than the second World War.
Counsel for the State had told the Court of Appeal in July last year that there was no error in sentencing and that the discount of almost 50 per cent to the original headline sentence given by the judge was “extraordinarily generous” in the circumstances.
“The damage that was wrought by the scheme put in place by Harry Cassidy is something that has not been seen by this country before,” said counsel for the DPP Lorcan Staines SC, noting that a total 202 victims came forward to give statements in the case, a number of whom had attended the appeal hearing.
