In the financial fraud case Coan v. Dunne et al., Attorney Thomas H. Curran, representing Richard Coan, the trustee, exposed Dunne’s initiatives to thwart his creditors amid financial pressures and tremendous debts. In an attempt to flee his creditors, Dunne began transferring hundreds of millions of euros worth of his assets to his wife at the time, Gayle Killilea. Not only did Dunne transfer partnerships and interests in cash, but his most affluent transfers were in real property.Â
Dunne owned a successful hotel in CapeTown, South Africa called the Lagoon Beach Hotel. When he discovered his creditors were after him, he transferred his ownership interest in the hotel to his wife for virtually no consideration. However, he remained in possession and control of the hotel’s benefits and operations, earning millions of euros a year in profits. Further, Dunne fraudulently transferred his 58-million-euro estate in Dublin, Ireland, called “Walford.” Dunne transferred the property to an offshore entity called Yesreb Holdings Limited, which was formed under the laws of the Republic of Cyprus. Initially, Dunne denied having ties with Yesreb; however, the evidence clashed with Dunne’s assertions, and eventually, Dunne conceded that Yesreb’s stockholder was his son. Eventually, via Yesreb, Dunne sold the Walford property to Celtic Trustees Limited, an Isle of Mann entity owned by Irish businessman Dermot Desmond, for more than 14,000,000 euros. Dunne argued that the transfers were all gifts made for love and affection, and he intended to provide for his family. Nevertheless, on June 4, 2019, the jury returned a verdict for the trustee and found that Dunne had fraudulently transferred Walford to Killilea, and then, through her to Yesreb, with the intent to hinder, delay and defraud his creditors pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 548 and 550. Ultimately, Attorney Curran secured a jury award of more than twenty-two million dollars ($22,000,000.00) for the Trustee.
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