THE CRIMINAL Assets Bureau has secured an order from the High Court allowing it to freeze €4.65 million in bank accounts in five jurisdictions linked to an alleged fraudster who had been running a so-called “ponzi” scheme in Ireland.
The orders relate to 11 bank accounts opened by six companies, all controlled by French national François de Dietrich.
The bank accounts are in the Republic, Northern Ireland, Belgium, Estonia and Luxembourg.
The order granted by Mr Justice Kevin Feeney in the High Court in effect rules that the money in the accounts found during the international Cab trawl is the proceeds of crime. This clears the way for the State to recover the money in the accounts.
The cash will most likely be returned to those people who gave de Dietrich money to invest in a stock liquidation business that he said he was running.
He promised the return of the investment after a short period, with a large profit included. In many earlier cases he followed up on that promise, but those who invested their money later saw no return.
De Dietrich was not making profits from selling old liquidated stock, as he claimed. Instead, he was taking money from a large number of investors.
He was using that money to pay profits to a smaller number of investors in the hope that news of those profits would lead to even more people investing. Much of his activity in the Republic was in the northwest, specifically Donegal.
In January he was jailed for 18 months in his absence by a Belfast court.
That sentence was imposed on him for failing to comply with a series of court orders and therefore being in contempt. Under the terms of an earlier injunction, he had been ordered to reveal details of his worldwide assets.
Last year the UK’s Financial Services Authority banned him from taking more deposits from investors. The authority subsequently froze £20.2 million (€23.5 million) of his assets.
The latest High Court order against him and his six businesses was granted under the Proceeds of Crime Act earlier this month but has emerged only now. De Dietrich did not appear in court in Dublin and his whereabouts are unknown.
However, a solicitor acting for him told the court that while his client was consenting to the order, he denied any wrongdoing and said he always had sufficient funds to repay investors.
He also denied that he was living a lavish lifestyle.
