News that Michael Lynn is already enjoying partial freedom is a blow to his many victims.
While Lynn was convicted of stealing €18m from financial institutions via duplicate loan scams, he also stole millions from ordinary citizens.
But those who trusted him with their life savings have never received justice or any recompense, as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) didn’t bring charges in their cases.
Michael Lynn. Pic: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin
The funds these private clients invested, for foreign apartments that were never built, were channelled through Lynn’s firm Kendar. The money was then sent abroad and could not be traced as Kendar collapsed into liquidation when Lynn vanished.
In a further blow, these private investors were also unable to recover their funds from the Law Society compensation fund because they were not deemed to be legal clients of Lynn’s solicitor’s firm.
Instead, they were simply treated as creditors of Kendar and put at the bottom of the list below Revenue and the banks who ranked first.
RTÉ’s recent award-winning documentary, Michael Lynn: The Fugitive, based on the best-selling book by Michael O’Farrell, featured some of the individuals who lost their life savings to Lynn.
Former solicitor Michael Lynn.
These include Kerry publican Seán O’Mahony whose wife Kathleen tragically lost her life to cancer.
Prior to her death, the mother of two had used her €50,000 illness benefit to invest in a Bulgarian apartment. It was supposed to be a legacy for her family when she was gone.
Instead, Kathleen died watching the TV news from her hospital bed as news of Lynn’s deceptions broke.
Former Dublin school teacher Paul Ryan – who lost €60,000 after paying for an apartment in Portugal – also featured in the documentary.
In the wake of Lynn’s 2023 conviction, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) continues to investigate the whereabouts of the millions Lynn stole.
Michael Lynn and his wife, BrÃd Murphy, leaving the High Court in Dublin.
After his imprisonment, the GNECB raided Lynn’s home and several other properties linked to firms run by people with whom he was associated.
In the process, €2.8m was frozen. A further €3m has also been seized by the authorities investigating Lynn in Portugal.
What will become of this money when the investigations conclude remains uncertain.
Financial expert Cormac Butler said everyday investors should be given priority access to any funds recovered.
‘The banks shouldn’t be entitled to that money, and the victims have a case,’ the regulatory expert previously told Extra.ie.
This argument is backed by a Supreme Court case from 2013 which involved millions in bad loans to Thomas Byrne, another solicitor who stole from clients and banks.
In this case, the Supreme Court found KBC Bank had engaged in ‘contributory negligence’ when it recklessly lent to Byrne.