The former Chief Executive Officer of collapsed investment firm, Custom House Capital, has lost his appeal against his sentence of six years and ten months for conspiracy to defraud.
Harry Cassidy, 67, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud investors by intentionally misleading them about where their money was and how it was invested. The conspiracy was described a highly organised, systematic, prolific plundering of clients’ accounts.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard the losses in the case ran into tens of millions of euro and victim impact statements were handed in from almost 200 people.
Cassidy was a cofounder of CHC. He was described as being in charge of the entire conspiracy and the judge said he breached every duty on him and all trust placed in him.
The judge sentenced him to seven years in jail but he was given two months credit to take account of time he spent in prison in Germany before he returned to Ireland.
Cassidy had appealed the severity of the sentence imposed. The court of appeal dismissed his appeal on all grounds.
Mr Justice John Edwards said it was an exceptional case involving “truly egregious offending” which caused devastation in the lives of almost 200 people who lost the money they had saved for their retirements. He said there were likely to be many more indirect victims of the offence.
He said it was not an opportunistic offence but involved extensive premeditation and a high level of sophistication. He said Cassidy knew he was required to operate to the highest standards of probity and could not have failed to understand the impropriety of spending clients’ money.
The judge in the lower court had set a headline sentence of 14 years which she then reduced due to mitigating circumstances.
The Appeal Court ruled the headline sentence was appropriate and the significant discount took account of the mitigating factors.
Mr Justice Edwards said this was “very serious offending which required to be appropriately punished” and there was a necessity to send a deterrent message. He said the offence merited a substantial sentence and Cassidy must pay his debt to society. The court found the sentence was not unduly severe and dismissed the appeal.
Custom House Capital put deposits on a large portfolio of investment properties in Europe as the financial crisis began to take hold in 2008.
When the crash came, the company used clients’ money to pay for the properties, without the knowledge or authorisation of the clients involved.
Statements provided to the clients were altered to hide what was being done with their money.
The Circuit Criminal Court heard €61 million of clients’ funds had been misappropriated and €41m had so far been recovered but there had been a “considerable delay” in distributing the recovered assets.
Cassidy along with 53-year-old John Whyte and 47-year-old Paul Lavery all pleaded guilty to the conspiracy. 73-year-old John Mulholland, who cofounded Custom House Capital with Cassidy, pleaded guilty to neglectfully discharging his duty as a director.
Former clients addressed the court at the sentence hearing in 2023.
These included Catherine Heron whose husband Patrick died in 2014.
She told the court he had died because of the stress of losing his savings.
Nick Coy, said his aunt, Helga who was born in Germany, did not know her savings had been stolen.
He said he had spent sleepless nights because of trying to protect her from the reality of her stolen life, until she died aged 92.
