Alleged fraudster Catherine O’Brien used defunct State visa scheme to attract potential investors here
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Alleged fraudster Catherine O’Brien used the government’s Immigrant Investor Programme to attract potential investors to Ireland from as far away as the US.
The programme was discontinued by the government last year after the Public Accounts Committee was asked to review its working.
Introduced in 2012, the programme was a pathway for non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals to secure an immigration permission in Ireland on the basis of long-term investment in a range of options approved by the Government. Under the scheme, applicants had to have a net worth of at least €2m and be willing to invest a minimum of €1m for at least three years.
In February, Secretary General of the Department of Justice, Oonagh McPhillips, told the PAC that the department had up to 2,700 applications from investors to process. It has now emerged from sources who came forward to the that investment opportunities through the programme were included in a list of services offered by a business linked to Catherine O’Brien.
Ms O’Brien, whose whereabouts are unknown, is wanted for questioning by gardaí investigating allegations of fraud in the sale of horses in recent years. It is understood that stud farm investments were among the opportunities offered to prospective applicants, including at locations in Meath and Kildare.
Prospective investors travelled from the west coast of the US and met with Ms O’Brien and associates in relation to the possibility of investing here.
On the business’s now-defunct website, under a section called Investing, the business stated that the operation “is providing private clients the opportunity to acquire permanent residency in Ireland through the Irish Government-backed ‘Immigrant Investor Programme’. We currently have a small number of opportunities for our clients to invest in Ireland, gaining permanent residency in return.”
Documents seen by the also include a membership form on headed paper with the operation’s name on it for a racing club called Leprechaun Racing Club, which offered membership of the club for a fee of €2,000. The contact for the racing club was listed on the document as Kate O’Brien, with a phone number which has previously been used by Catherine O’Brien in dealings with people who claim to have lost money in their dealings with her.
Last year, nolle prosequi was entered in the case of two men accused of demanding money with menace from the alleged fraudster as her whereabouts could not be established. An earlier hearing in that case was told that Ms O'Brien, originally from Buttevant in Cork but with an address in Ballinroad, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, is a suspect herself in eight active cases involving €100,000 and lesser amounts.
The complaints under investigation relate to horse investment schemes through a website set up to target people interested in thoroughbred horses. Another relates to a scheme involving an investment related to a property which was for sale in France, also related to horses.
In February 2022, a decision was made in favour of the Criminal Assets Bureau, allowing the retention by the State of a 2015-registered Land Rover Discovery which the High Court ruled was purchased through the proceeds of “criminal frauds” by Ms O’Brien.
An investigation into O’Brien discovered she has been involved in organising the transportation of horses to central Europe from Ireland, and has also been sourcing horse trainers there.
However, sources in eastern Europe do not believe O’Brien is in Slovakia or Hungary, where the horses have been racing — although several say a woman called Katie O’Brien has enlisted the services of trainers and agents through phone communication, including from a number known to have been used by Catherine O’Brien in Ireland.
The name of the breeder of the horses based in Hungary was the same name of the operation set up in Ireland which targeted would-be investors in horses.