Wife of Kinahan cartel lieutenant to be jailed after court finds probation for money laundering was too light
Deirdre Brady, who is dating a high-ranking member of the Kinahan Cartel known as “Mr.
The other of three, Brady, 55, from The Bailey, Castlefarm, Naas, Co Kildare, has been given a three-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to two offenses under Section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act in the Special Criminal Court last July Year.
Brady was tried in the three-judge court alongside her husband Declan Brady, 56, who was jailed for seven years and three months on money laundering charges for a criminal organization.
A third defendant, Declan Brady’s lover Erika Lukacs, also received a three-year sentence with full probation for her role in the nearly €200,000 laundering.
The sentencing court heard that Brady and his wife laundered cash through wire transfers, including mortgage payments for a Spanish vacation property, a wedding at Druid’s Glen and wire transfers to other gang members.
A bar bill and room bills of €27,000 from the wedding were paid in cash, while both Brady and his wife did not declare any income to the IRS during the period in question, the court also heard.
Today Deirdre Brady’s conviction was overturned in the Court of Appeal and she has been given a one-year sentence starting next month.
After hearing the State’s appeal against the leniency of Deirdre Brady’s sentence in February, the President of the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice George Birmingham, asked: “Did she [Brady] Do you think the money came from heaven or from a fairy godmother?”
The 17 money laundering offenses were committed between January 2014 and December 2014 and involved concealing or concealing the true nature or source of €770,000 derived from criminal activities.
In sentencing the two women in the Special Criminal Court, Judge Tony Hunt said the couple did not receive prison sentences because they did not participate in the underlying crime from which the money came.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) then appealed Deirdre Brady’s sentence, saying it was unduly lenient.
At today’s Court of Appeals sentencing, Judge John Edwards said the court would overturn the judgment of the Special Criminal Court and retrial Deirdre Brady.
Mr Justice Edwards said the DPP had argued that the overall gravity of the case meant that the detention threshold had “undoubtedly” been exceeded and that the fully suspended sentence constituted a fundamental error of principle.
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Declan Brady is currently serving a sentence on money laundering charges for a criminal organization
“While the evidence does not indicate that the defendant had detailed knowledge of the organization in which her husband was involved or the precise criminal activities she was involved in, the defendant was nonetheless aware that her husband undeclared earnings from what she received, at least she must have suspected criminal activity,” said Judge Edwards.
“She benefited from the proceeds of these illicit funds as they were used in part to finance the mortgage on the family home and to pay for a close relative’s lavish wedding. As the presiding judge observed, the obvious question is, “Where did she think that manna came from heaven?” said Mr. Justice Edwards.
The judge also found that Brady was “not entirely passive” in the venture as she was “actively” involved in the management of a property in Spain funded by undeclared income.
The judge identified six years in prison as Brady’s primary sentence and granted her a four-year reprieve “to reflect the significant mitigating circumstances in the case and to include the early guilty plea.”
The sentencing court heard that Brady and his wife laundered cash through wire transfers, including mortgage payments for a Spanish vacation property, a wedding at Druid’s Glen and wire transfers to other gang members
Mr Justice Edwards said the final 12 months of the two-year sentence would be suspended for two years after her release, during which time she is expected to behave decently.
He added that the portion suspended was “to further the defendant’s reform in circumstances where she is a first offender and we believe she poses a low risk of reoffending.”
Mr Justice Edwards then stayed the start of the year’s prison sentence following a request from Mr Bowman in relation to Brady’s role in caring for children in the extended family.
At the appeal hearing, the DPP’s Fiona Murphy SC said the offenses involved four bank accounts: a joint PTSB account Brady held with her husband that contained €94,000; a bank account in Ulster with €347,000; an AIB account with €205,000 deposited; and a Bank of Ireland account with €85,000.
There was also a sum of €34,000 that had been transferred to Druids Glen Resort to pay for a family wedding, while €141,000 was transferred to an Irish national living in Spain named Thomas Kavanagh, who Ms Murphy says was known to gardaí.
The total amount at stake was 770,499 euros, the lawyer said.
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Declan Brady’s lover Erika Lukacs has been sentenced to three years’ probation for her role in the nearly €200,000 laundering. Photo: Collins Photo Agency
“This was a significant amount of money over a significant period of time,” she added.
Ms Murphy also said there was no indication Brady was under the “coercive control” of her husband, whom Mr Justice Birmingham described as a “high-end delinquent” during the filings.
She said there was “no two possibilities” that the money deposited in the accounts came from “major crime” and there was no evidence Brady was pressured by her husband to open those accounts.
“It might not have had the Gucci handbag or the Chanel jewelry, but Brady enjoyed a standard of living that she might not otherwise have had,” Ms. Murphy said.
Michael Bowman SC, representing Brady, had told the three-judge court that the state must show the original judgment was “a material or gross departure from the norm” in order to establish an undue leniency.
Mr Bowman described the verdict his client received as “a close call” and said the Special Criminal Court judges had “a considerable amount of experience in dealing with matters of this nature”.
His client’s husband, the lawyer continued, worked for “the most serious criminal organization this country has ever seen” and “viciously influenced” her life.
Brady, who is on welfare and on medication for mental health issues, doesn’t live beyond her means and doesn’t even own a car, although she can drive, he added.
Mr Bowman said his client had fully cooperated with the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) and was forced to cede the family home in Celbridge – which was “legitimately acquired” in the 1980s with the help of her father – as part of the CAB agreement to sell .
Declan Brady, known as ‘Mr Nobody’, last of The Park, Wolstan Abbey, Celbridge, Co Kildare, had pleaded guilty to hiding €268,940 worth of cash in the attic of The Dairy, Rathasker Road, Naas, Co Kildare to have. on January 24, 2017.
He is already serving 11 and a half years in prison after admitting to overseeing a weapons arsenal, including an assault rifle and thousands of rounds of ammunition, that was hidden in a Dublin industrial park.
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/wife-of-kinahan-cartel-lieutenant-to-be-jailed-after-court-finds-suspended-sentence-for-laundering-cash-was-too-lenient-42189206.html Wife of Kinahan cartel lieutenant to be jailed after court finds probation for money laundering was too light