The former prominent investment broker Tony Taylor has been jailed for five years for fraudulently converting over £360,000 and destroying records and documents relating to his businesses.
Taylor (54) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three counts of the fraudulent conversion of cheques between March 27th, 1990 and July 9th, 1996; and one charge of causing the destruction of records and documents relating to Taylor Asset Management, Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, on August 6th, 1996.
He also pleaded guilty to a charge of the fraudulent diversion of funds for his own use between April 9th, 1996 and May 15th, 1996.
Taylor, formerly from Anglesea Road, Dublin 4, was living in England at Wrestwood Avenue, Eastbourne, after absconding from Ireland following the collapse of the Taylor Group three years previously, when tracked down by private investigators in August 1999.
He was extradited by the Garda Bureau of Fraudulent Investigation in January 2000, an extradition he strongly contested. He has been in custody since. A nolle prosequiwas entered on 10 further charges. It had been estimated a trial would have lasted some eight weeks.
Judge Elizabeth Dunne said she had no doubt that the amount of money involved was "very significant" and without knowing too much about the victims, she said they must have been seriously affected having no chance of ever being recompensed.
"The court takes a serious view of Mr Taylor's actions and were it not for his guilty plea a very stringent custodial sentence would have been imposed if he was found guilty after a trial," she said.
"I have no doubt that the victims in this case would have been strongly affected by the losses of such money and I have to mark the seriousness of the offences," she concluded.
Defence Counsel, Mr Paul McDermott SC (with Mr Luan O Braonain BL) earlier told Judge Dunne that Taylor absconded because of an article published connecting him with a well-known Dublin criminal. It referred to a link with the Veronica Guerin murder in June 1996 and it caused him "an enormous fear".
He added that he deeply regretted his actions and his invaluable plea saved a lot of court time. A trial would have lasted in excess of eight weeks.
"My client worked very hard in this business, dating back to 1967, and these offences will lead to business and social isolation in the future," he said.
"It has deeply affected him and he will live with this for the rest of his life. He never lived any high-flying lifestyle and the money defrauded was purely to save his business which was in serious danger of collapse," Mr McDermott added. Detective Garda Kevin Monks told Mr Shane Murphy SC (with Mr George Birmingham SC) prosecuting, that at the time of the offences Taylor owned three companies, Taylor Investment Ltd, Taylor and Associates Financial Services and Taylor Asset Management which all made up the Taylor Group.
Det Gda Monks added that Taylor acted as an agent for personal clients who wished to invest money with businesses in Ireland or abroad.
In January 1991, a retired married woman, June Anne O'Reilly, gave him a cheque for £50,000 that she wanted lodged with a company called Fleming Fund Management.
Taylor told Ms O'Reilly that he would lodge the money with the Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong. After the Taylor Group collapsed in 1996 he said he was transferring the remaining £45,208 into an account in the Isle of Man.
Det Gda Monks said Ms O'Reilly has not received any of her money back.
Another investor, Mr Patrick Millen, gave Taylor a cheque for £220,358 on March 27, 1990, to be invested in a company called Fidelity.
Taylor lodged the money in various overseas accounts but when the Taylor Group came into financial difficulty he returned a cheque for £70,000 to Mr Millen. The rest of the money was lost.
Between 1988 and 1996 a third investor, Mr George O'Hara, made various investments with Taylor amounting to £205,000 under a guarantee that the funds would be secure.
Following his dealings with Taylor he ended up with a loss of approximately £136,000 from the money he invested. The money was lodged in various Taylor accounts.
Det Gda Monks said that in May 1991 the sum of £25,515, which rose to over £31,000, was given to Taylor by a Ms Joan Lynch to be invested with Fleming Fund Management but in June 1996 he asked for the money to be returned and lodged it with the Royal Bank of Canada in Jersey.
Throughout the period the investors would often inquire as to how their funds were doing and would be told they were doing good but these interactions were only with Taylor and over the telephone.
Det Gda Monks said on August 6th, 1996, he told a female staff member to delete various names from his computer and then to shred all documents going back to 1989.
The woman felt nervous about it but agreed when he explained an inspection was due. It took her until midnight and all the records were put into 15 black plastic bags. Three days later he met with an inspector but had absconded to England before a second meeting, on August 12th.