By Sarah-Jane Murphy
Former Anglo Irish Bank CEO David Drumm has been jailed for six years for his role in a multi-billion euro bank fraud scheme in 2008.
Earlier this month, a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court returned unanimous verdicts of guilty on a charge of conspiracy to defraud and one of false accounting, after just over ten and a half hours of deliberations.
Judge Karen O'Connor delivered the sentence shortly after 4pm this afternoon and said that any time already spent in custody should be taken into consideration.
The maximum prison sentence for conspiracy to defraud is unlimited, while the maximum jail term for false accounting is ten years.
Judge O’Connor sentenced Mr Drumm to six years and ordered that he would get credit for the five months he had spent in a prison in Boston before being extradited to Ireland in March 2016.
The judge said she felt "the appropriate headline figure is eight years imprisonment in relation to both counts", but imposed a six-year sentence after reflecting on mitigating factors.
The former banking executive lived in Wellesley, Massachusetts, US for a number of years including after the collapse of Anglo.
He was subject to lengthy extradition proceedings and was held in custody for five months in a US Federal Penitentiary before he ultimately consented to his extradition in March 2016.
Drumm (51) of Skerries, Co. Dublin was on bail throughout the 87-day trial, the third longest criminal trial in the history of the State.
His bail was continued after his conviction and he was present in court for the hearing this morning, dressed in a navy suit and an open-collared blue shirt.
During this hearing, his lawyers told the court he had instructed them not to put forward any testimonials or character references.
Brendan Grehan SC said that since his client became the chief executive of the Anglo Irish Bank “his life had been an open book” and he did not wish to have others exposed to further adverse publicity or loss of privacy.
It was the State's case that Drumm conspired with Irish Life & Permanent's former CEO, Denis Casey, Anglo's former financial director Willie McAteer and former Head of Treasury at Anglo, John Bowe, among others, to carry out €7.2bn in fraudulent circular transactions in order to bolster the customer deposits figure on Anglo's balance sheet.
The State also alleged that this €7.2bn was falsely accounted for as part of the bank's customer deposits in preliminary accounts published on December 3rd 2008, therefore misleading the market as to Anglo's true strength.
Bowe (54) from Glasnevin, Dublin, McAteer (67) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co. Tipperary and Casey (58) from Raheny, Dublin were convicted in June 2016 on the conspiracy to defraud charges.
David Drumm in happier times in 2006
Drumm, of Skerries, Co Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to conspiring with former bank officials Denis Casey, William McAteer, John Bowe and others to defraud depositors and investors at Anglo by “dishonestly” creating the impression that deposits in 2008 were €7.2 billion larger than they were.
He had also pleaded not guilty to false accounting on December 3, 2008, by furnishing information to the market that Anglo's 2008 deposits were €7.2 billion larger than they were.
