Disgraced former solicitor Michael Lynn could be released from prison next month if his appeal against the five-and-a-half-year sentence for stealing just over €18 million from six financial institutions is successful, his lawyers have said.
Lynn, who was jailed just eight months ago, will now have his appeal heard on the same day his legal team believe he would be entitled to release should he succeed.
The matter had been listed for the hearing of a preliminary issue at the Court of Appeal on Friday.
However, when the case was called, Mr Justice John Edwards informed Paul Comiskey O’Keefe BL, representing Lynn, that the court would not deal with grounds of appeal on a “piecemeal” basis.
The judge said that when the matter had previously been raised in the case management list last June, liberty had been given to “put the cart before the horse” and have the sentence appeal head before the conviction appeal.
Mr Justice Edwards said there was “no such thing” as a preliminary issue in an appeal hearing and there is a ruling which dictates that grounds of appeal cannot be heard one by one.
Lynn (55), formerly of Millbrook Court, Redcross, Co Wicklow, was found guilty by a jury of 10 of the 21 theft counts against him following a second Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial last year after the jury in his first trial in 2022 failed to reach a verdict.
If the appeal is successful, Mr O’Keefe said by his calculations, Lynn would be due to be released from prison on November 4th. He said because of this, there was an element of “urgency” to the case.
Mr Justice Edwards informed the lawyer that the earliest possible date for the hearing was also November 4th and set this down for Lynn’s sentence appeal which will be heard, the judge said, “very exceptionally and unusually” in advance of his conviction appeal.
He said that in most instances, the conviction appeal is heard first, and the sentence appeal is only heard in the event that the conviction appeal is unsuccessful.
He said the court’s understanding when the matter was dealt with during case management was that limited submissions relating to sentence only were to be filed and Lynn would be facilitated in having his sentence appeal heard first.
Mr Justice Edwards said the court would not prevent the barrister from ventilating all the grounds of the sentence appeal together on Friday.
“Are you in a position to do that?” he asked, to which Mr O’Keefe indicated that he was not.
Mr Justice Edwards said the court would endeavour to get an early hearing date for the appeal but said in order to do that, matters had to be “got back on the rails”.
He said the State would need time to consider submissions in advance of the appeal hearing. He said the first available time there was any space available was actually November 4th.
“That’s the best we can do,” he added.
The judge directed that Lynn’s legal team produce their submissions by the end of next week, allowing the following week for the State to reply.
“If you fail to comply with that timetable the case will not proceed,” he said before adjourning the matter to November 4th for hearing.
Sentencing Lynn in February this year, Judge Martin Nolan set a headline sentence of 13 years but gave Lynn seven-and-a-half years credit for the time he spent in prison in Brazil.
Lynn had to be extradited from Brazil in 2018 after spending years resisting attempts to have him face charges. As part of the extradition agreement with Brazil, Lynn was to be given credit for the prison time he has already served.
Judge Nolan accepted that the time Lynn spent in prison in Brazil was “onerous” but he noted: “To some degree he could have resolved his difficulties by agreeing to come home.”
The court heard Lynn obtained multiple mortgages on the same properties in a situation where banks were unaware that other institutions were also providing finance. These properties included 'Glenlion', Lynn's €5.5 million home in Howth, and multiple investment properties.
The financial institutions Lynn was found guilty of stealing from were National Irish Bank, Irish Life and Permanent, Ulster Bank, ACC Bank, Bank of Scotland Ireland and Irish Nationwide Building Society.
Lynn took the stand and told his trial that the banks were aware he had multiple loans on the same properties and claimed that this was custom and practice among bankers in Celtic Tiger Ireland.
