Money laundering scheme saw woman lose over €20,000

A SECURITY guard from Dublin lost his job after pleading guilty to money laundering in a scheme which left a woman in her sixties at a loss of over €20,000.

James Gilroy (39), from Temple Gardens, Northwood, Santry, Dublin who pleaded guilty in Trim Circuit Court to money laundering.

The court heard on 19th December 2020 the injured party, a woman in her sixties, received a Facebook message from her brother in law about Covid financial assistance.

She later received a WhatsApp message from a person saying they required her personal details for her to receive this assistance. She was given a list of funding options to apply for and told to transfer €2,000 to a bank account. She transferred these funds on 4th January 2021 to a bank owned by a man who was already in the courts regarding this incident. She was then told to transfer €3,000 to another account the same day which is owned by a man also being dealt with by Gardaí.

On 5th January she was given details of James Gilroy’s bank account and was told to transfer €2,500 to him. The next day she was told there was a tax fee on the Fed Ex delivery truck transporting the funds and she had to make a €1,000 payment.

She was then told this wasn't enough and on 15th January she lodged a further €2,000. Three days later another €1,500 was lodged into the accused’s account, then €1,000 on 19th and €1,700 on 20th January. There was one more payment of €1,500 lodged on the next day to another individual who is also before the courts.

The injured party is at a total loss of €23,035 from this, €10,200 of which was transferred through the accused’s account. She has been reimbursed €5,300 so far from the previous accused in court but she paid cash voluntarily so the bank would not reimburse her. The court heard she is financially supporting her daughter and she couldn't visit her parent in South Africa before they passed away due to this situation.

Mr Gilroy was later contacted regarding this incident and on 5th November 2024 he attended Navan Garda station. The accused confirmed the transactions were placed in his bank account and said he gave his bank details to a man named Matthew who he knew from work and was told where to transfer them. He was given €100 for this and accepted it was reckless to do so, believing at the time if it was suspicious the bank would have frozen his account. He pleaded guilty at the first opportunity in the courts.

Defending barrister James O’Brien told the court his client was working with this person Matthew and was told he wanted to hide this money from his wife. He continued to pester the accused until he eventually became involved. Mr Gilroy had €4,000 in court as compensation for the injured party and BL O’Brien said the accused is having financial difficulties after losing his employment.

Judge John Martin said: “I'll give you the chance” and put back the case to 20th October in order for the accused to gather more funds and fully reimburse the injured party.

Judge Martin said it is hard to swallow the idea of his account constantly being used in this way would be for anything but criminal activity and “he'd know from the get go that this is wrong”.

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme