Former Kilkenny hurling great DJ Carey has been jailed for an effective 5½ years for inducing 22 people to give him about €400,000 to fund treatment for cancer that he did not have.
Judge Martin Nolan said he “could not imagine a more reprehensible fraud than to tell people you have cancer and extort money on that basis”.
Probably the only other one on that level would be to deceive very elderly people, the judge told the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Carey (54), of The Drive, Newtown, Maynooth, Co Kildare, pleaded guilty to 10 charges last July.
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The judge said Carey had pleaded guilty to offences involving deception. He said he had cancer and needed treatment in the US, the chosen hospital was in Seattle. He had also said he had a civil action against the HSE and anticipated a positive outcome and would repay money from that.
Carey promised all the injured parties the money would be repaid but it turned out he did not have cancer and had not sued the HSE and there would be no proceeds from that, the judge said.
It seems most of the money Carey received was not repaid and he probably gained about €349,000, the judge said.
This was a “very low” fraud involving taking advantage of people’s good nature and goodwill towards him, the judge said. Carey had exploited the good nature of others and the goodwill due to his being well known and an outstanding sportsman.
The weakness that most fraudsters seek to exploit is greed but that was not the case here, he said. The judge said that Carey exploited the good nature of these people, knew a lot of them, they knew him and they had good regard for him. He had persuaded them he needed the money urgently and would repay them.
“It is a very serious matter, it is reprehensible and very bad behaviour.”
[ How DJ Carey went from hurling great to convicted fraudsterOpens in new window ]
All the parties who gave money “must have looked in the mirror and thought ‘how foolish I am’, but what Carey had done was that he had exploited them for being good people”, the judge said.
The maximum sentence on each of the 10 counts at issue was five years but the court had to take into account the criminal behaviour and mitigation, including Carey’s pleas of guilty last July to 10 charges. “All pleas in white-collar criminal cases are valuable,” the judge said.
Carey also demonstrated a certain level of co-operation with gardaí and had made some admissions although not at formal interview, the judge said.
He has no previous convictions and has some work history and will probably not reoffend in the future, although the court cannot be certain, the judge said.
He was a formidable sportsman in hurling and handball, probably one of the best hurlers ever, he said.
By reason of what Carey did, he has been subject of public odium and ridicule, his reputation had been destroyed and his good name will probably never recover, the judge said. On his release from prison, he will probably have a tough life, he said.
The judge also saidCarey has a heart condition and received treatment.
He said it was hard to know what motivated Carey but what he did was “grossly wrong”.
Some of his victims lost a lot of money and other parties lost less significant sums that they may not have been able to afford. The judge also supposed they lost a certain amount of belief in human nature too.
He was impressed by Thomas Butler, who gave Carey more than €16,000, and read his own victim impact report, he said.
The judge set a headline sentence of eight to 10 years for Carey’s “global misbehaviour”, which he reduced due to Carey’s guilty plea and other mitigating factors.
He imposed concurrent sentences of 5½ years, four years and 1½ years in relation to his pleas, making an effective sentence of 5½ years. He could not imagine a “more reprehensible fraud”, the judge said.
Of a total €394,127 and US$13,000 received by Carey, €44,200 was repaid, leaving €349,927 and $13,000 outstanding.
Carey’s victims included businessman Denis O’Brien, who said in a victim impact statement that he had believed Carey’s cancer claim. Over eight years from 2014, Mr O’Brien advanced him about €125,000 and $13,000, including repaying a €60,000 sum Carey owed to AIB. Mr O’Brien also gave Carey the use of an apartment and a car when he was in Dublin.
Carey, the court heard, provided false documents to Mr O’Brien and his financial adviser in support of his false cancer claim.
What Carey did was “extraordinarily deceitful, manipulative and cunning”, Mr O’Brien said. “To my embarrassment, I was completely duped by DJ Carey.”
Mr Butler, an accountant who gave Carey more than €16,000 from his pension, said the fact the former hurler used cancer as a means to obtain money under a false pretence “was gut-wrenching personally for me as both my parents died of cancer”.
Carey’s counsel Colman Cody said the former star’s “descent into shame” was as “meteoric” as was his rise to sporting greatness, and he is now essentially of no fixed abode.
As there was no immediate prospect of repaying those affected, all Carey could do was offer a sincere and heartfelt apology, counsel said.
Carey has a genuine heart condition, Mr Cody said.
A Garda investigation into Carey’s cancer claim began after a bank worker became suspicious in summer 2022 when an older woman customer sought to transfer money to Carey.
As a result of information from banks, gardaí put together a series of deceptions over time.
In December 2022, gardaí got warrants to search Carey’s home, a hotel room in Co Kilkenny, and his car. From phone data, they found references to cancer and to having to go to Seattle for treatment, along with messages revealing numerous excuses for non-payment of money, often saying he was in Seattle or blaming banks for money not going through.
Gardaí also found letters purporting to be from the Fred Hutchinson cancer centre in Seattle but, when contacted, it had no record of a patient named Denis or DJ Carey.
On December 14th, 2022, Carey told gardaí he had been sick in 2012 with a heart-wall virus and, at that time, made up a story he was sick with cancer to buy time because he had a substantial debt with AIB. He admitted he had never been sick with cancer and never sought treatment for that.
Among 10 charges admitted last July by Carey was that he, dishonestly and by deception, induced Mr O’Brien to give him money to pay for cancer treatment on unknown dates between January 2014 and September 2022.
He pleaded guilty to the same offence, on different unknown dates, mainly in 2021 and 2022, in relation to Owen and Ann Conway; Mark and Sharon Kelly; Aidan Mulligan; his cousin Edwin Carey; Jeffrey Howes; former Clare hurler Tony Griffin and Christy Browne and publican Aonghus Leydon.
The same offence was admitted in relation to Mr Butler on unknown dates between 2019 and 2022, and regarding publican Noel Tynan on unknown dates between 2017 and 2022.
Among 10 charges taken into consideration, one related to Tom Brennan, who went to the same school as Carey, St Kieran’s in Kilkenny. Carey contacted Mr Brennan in 2020 seeking €120,000 to clear a debt with AIB and claiming he was due a medical negligence payment.
Mr Brennan paid Carey €120,000 on the understanding it would be repaid but, despite taking legal proceedings, Mr Brennan remains unpaid.
Some of the charges taken into consideration involved people who were fully repaid the sums advanced to Carey. Those included Peadar Hughes, who knew Carey through handball and was repaid €3,000; Donal Carroll who was repaid €10,000 and Brendan Fleming, repaid €14,000.
