Assets linked to alleged Kinahan associate deemed proceeds of crime by High Court

High Court reporters

Assets belonging to an alleged Kinahan organised crime group associate who once resided in an affluent south Dublin suburb have been deemed by the High Court to be the proceeds of crime.

The Criminal Assets Bureau claim Ciaran O’Sullivan (50), who previously resided on Adelaide Road in Glenageary, is known to multiple law enforcement agencies as a transnational drug trafficker for over 20 years, and has lived a lavish lifestyle despite having no legitimate source of income.

The bureau cites Mr O’Sullivan’s daughters’ attendance at an exclusive Swiss finishing school, Surval Montreux, as an indicator of this lifestyle.

On Wednesday, barrister Jim Benson, for the bureau, sought orders related to assets linked to Mr O’Sullivan, which were seized during searches of properties connected to him in June 2020.

Among the assets seized were various devices recovered during his Glenageary address, including iPhones, Google Pixel phones and Samsung tablets.

It is the bureau’s case that Mr O’Sullivan was involved in the supply of EncroChat devices, and that these devices were held by Mr O’Sullivan to this end.

EncroChat is a now-defunct encrypted messaging service favoured by those involved in organised crime.

Other items seized included luxury watches, a Louis Vuitton briefcase, €3,060 cash and a gold bullion cold.

Mr Justice Alexander Owens said he was satisfied these assets were the proceeds of crime, granting the orders sought by the bureau under section 3 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996.

The judge refused to make the order sought in relation to €16,350 held in a bank account held under Mr O’Sullivan’s aunt’s name.

The court heard evidence that this account was used to pay for Mr O’Sullivan’s daughter’s Swiss school fees.

Mr Justice Owens said the net effect of granting orders sought relating to the bank account would be to take money from the pension of an elderly woman, and that this would be “unfair”.

In making his orders, Mr Justice Owens noted evidence submitted on Mr O’Sullivan’s connections to a Chinese money laundering gang, who have provided services to the Kinahan organised crime group.

In the 2000s, Mr O’Sullivan was targeted and arrested in joint Irish and Dutch police operations focusing on the activities of the Kinahan organised crime group, the bureau allege.

Mr O’Sullivan has not lived in Ireland for some time, the court heard. He has no criminal convictions in Ireland, but was convicted of two separate drug related offences in Spain and the Netherlands.