In 2022, after countless attempts to evade creditors and shield themselves from liability, Gayle Killilea, ex-wife of bankrupt property mogul Sean Dunne, met a court-imposed deadline to provide assets securing a €19.5 million judgment from their 2019 US civil trial. During the Connecticut trial, the jury awarded the trustee €18.1 million, which grew with interest to €19.5 million. Following a successful trial led by THCA’s Thomas H. Curran, who represented the Chapter 7 Trustee, Richard Coan, Attorney Curran expressed how securing the assets was a “big deal.”
One of the secured assets was the multimillion-dollar piece of real estate in Ireland known as “Walford.” During the 2019 trial, Killilea initially tried to compel the jury to believe her narrative that Walford was held in a trust for her benefit and not a part of Dunne’s fraudulent schemes. However, Attorney Curran confirmed these assertions to be false and proved Dunne had purchased Walford in his individual capacity, and the ‘Declaration of Trust’ was forged. Walford then became a secured asset turned over to the trustee including the $12.5 million made from the sale.
In February 2022, a United States District Judge, Jeffrey Meyer, rejected Killilea’s request for a new trial and ordered her to provide certain assets as security while she worked towards an appeal. Moreover, on October 27, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a non-precedential opinion, affirming the decisions “for substantially the same reasons as those set forth by the district court in its thorough and exceptionally well-reasoned ruling on Petitioners post-trial motions.” Ultimately, the Second Circuit found Dunne’s and Killilea’s arguments were unpersuasive.
You can read the full article at: https://www.irishtimes.com/business/construction/gayle-killilea-meets-deadline-to-provide-assets-securing-19-5m-judgment-1.4818832