Two businessmen have been sentenced in connection with a money laundering scheme in which €1.4 million was transferred into their shared bank account from unwitting German investors.
Wesley Williams (46), of Foxlodge Manor, Ratoath, Co Meath, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of making a gain for himself in the scheme which took place over a decade ago.
His co-accused, Silvio Rabbitte (55), was given a fully-suspended sentence of two years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after his counsel said he had been “duped” and ought to have known that the scheme was “too good to be true”.
Rabbitte, of Woodberry Gardens, Castleknock, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of impeding the apprehension of Wesley Williams on dates between September 2012 and July 2014. He has no previous convictions.
At a hearing on Wednesday, the court heard that Rabbitte received €350,000 after €1.4 million from German investors was transferred into an account he shared with Williams, as co-directors of a company called One-Stop Shop Catering Ltd.
Detective Garda Deirdre Heneghan, of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, told Fiona Crawford BL, prosecuting, that a garda operation was set up in October 2012, investigating the transfer of €4 million from injured parties in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands into Irish bank accounts.
The court heard that on October 30th, 2012, four transactions totalling €420,000 came from two German accounts into the bank account of which Rabbitte and Williams were both signatories.
The following month, on November 9th, a further €1 million came into the account from Germany.
Det Gda Heneghan said the money was transferred by German injured parties who believed they were making an investment and that they would have access to the bank account into which they had transferred the money.
None of the money was recovered, the court heard.
The money was quickly dispersed from the One-Stop Shop account, with Rabbitte receiving €350,000, the court heard. Williams also received a sum of money, along with other parties.
Recordings
Rabbitte was arrested and a laptop containing some phone call recordings was seized.
He told gardaí that Williams owed him money and said he only had knowledge of the €420,000 coming into the account, and not the €1 million.
The court heard that the guilty plea to impeding the apprehension of Williams was entered on the basis that Rabbitte signed a contract in the days before the money entered the account, which made it harder for Williams to be prosecuted and gave a “veneer of respectability” to the transaction.
Mark Lynam SC, defending, said Rabbitte's culpability was on the basis of recklessness. He said Rabbitte was a successful businessman who became involved in land dealings with Williams during the Celtic Tiger era.
After some initial success, these business deals started to falter, and Williams owed Rabbitte a large sum of money, defence counsel said.
Williams and another associate, Simon Gold, then came to Rabbitte with a proposal that they get involved in 'trades', whereby they would receive a commission for allowing so-called investment monies to come through their account.
Rabbitte got financial advice in relation to the matter and was told that if he was satisfied as to the legitimacy of the funds, then it could be done.
Defence counsel said Rabbitte was told he did not need to know about the specifics of the transfer, but “from his knowledge of Mr Williams, he ought to have had a gimlet eye over the details of this”.
Mr Lynam said phone recordings taken from Rabbitte's computer were from a phone he had lent to Williams, and included phone calls between Williams and Gold in which they alluded to the fact that Rabbitte was not privy to all the details of the transaction.
“He was being duped about things,” Mr Lynam said, adding that Rabbitte “ought to have known this was too good to be true”. He said Rabbitte was anxious to have the money repaid and to be done with Williams.
Gold (59), of Windy Ridge House, Cartontroy, Athlone, Co Westmeath was jailed for seven and a half years in 2019 after he was found guilty by a jury of money laundering, theft, deception and control of false instruments on dates between January 1st, 2010, and October 22nd, 2012.
The court heard last year that he had already been released from prison.
The court heard this money went back into Rabbitte's business, but that the Criminal Assets Bureau had also seized €190,000.
Testimonials
Mr Lynam handed in a large number of testimonials from Rabbitte's colleagues, employees, family and friends, which described how he has worked hard at his business, which has 26 employees, and that his life revolves around his family.
In a letter handed into court, his wife described how she was in hospital frequently during the period in question and Rabbitte was under pressure minding his three children and managing the business.
He was described as “generous to a fault”, which defence counsel said explained how Williams “insinuated himself” into Rabbitte's affairs.
The court heard that Rabbitte had given the sum of €235,000 to his solicitors to be forwarded to the injured parties as a demonstration of his remorse.
Paul Comiskey O'Keeffe BL, defending Williams, said his client did not have the same moral culpability as Gold, adding: “There were others at the coalface with a higher level of culpability.”
Mr Comiskey O'Keeffe said Williams was married with four children and had a long history of employment in his family’s business.
Williams pleaded early, has no previous convictions, and was unlikely to come to adverse attention in the future, the court heard.
A letter was handed in from Williams’ father, from a family friend and from other friends and family members, praising his character and pointing out how involved he was in the care of his mother.
The court heard that Williams has been attending one-to-one therapy for over two years addressing his issues of drug dependence.
Judge Martin Nolan responded by saying that Williams was “at the higher end of misbehaviour” in the criminal enterprise of inducing others to part with their monies.
“Williams provided the apparatus of bank accounts to get away with the money,” Judge Nolan said.
He accepted that Williams had substantial mitigation, including his family responsibilities and his good record, entitling him to a 50 per cent reduction on a headline sentence of five years.
Judge Nolan said he was “suspicious” of Rabbitte, whom he described as an experienced businessman who “knows the ways of the world”, but added that he could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of his suspicions.
He ordered Rabbitte to forward the sum of €235,000 to the victims in the case.
The case was listed for mention in March to deal with an allegation of theft of a €15,000 watch faced by Williams.
