The Emerald Equestrian Centre’s current proprietor is seeking damages exceeding €1 million from a couple from County Carlow, claiming allegations of fraud. The centre was previously under the management of John Gilligan’s family, a notorious criminal figure.
Caroline Teltsch, the woman behind a thriving event planning business, informed the High Court last Tuesday that she had given substantial loans to James Buckely and his wife Paula, who were her former business associates. According to her, the loans were provided for various purposes, including the rejuvenation and management of the County Kildare establishment, formerly dubbed Jessbrook Equestrian Centre. However, her assertion is that she hasn’t seen any repayment from this pair.
Ms Teltsch, who is based in London, alleges that most notably, Mr Buckley has wrongfully profited from fraudulent activities, misinformation, and deceitful behaviour towards her.
In her legal offensive against the pair, she seeks a myriad of orders, such as a judgement of over €1 million due to their purported unwillingness to repay the loans provided between 2010 and 2018. Ms Teltsch also asserts that they’ve unduly benefited from her through a long string of deceptive tactics, emotional coercion and financial manipulation throughout that time.
She declared that Mr Buckley persuaded her to lend money to cover his tax dues, including a payment to Revenue as he had purported the equestrian centre was about to be seized. Other loans, as per her allegations, were spent on a Jaguar XKR and a Mitsubishi Evo sports car for Mr Buckley’s rallying pursuits, health bills, electricity expenses, legal matter fees that Mr Buckley was entangled in, a house deposit, and flight fares to New York for their wedding.
Additionally, Ms Teltsch is expecting the court to affirm that parcels of land near the centre in County Kildare are held by Mr Buckley in trust for her, and that she has a rightful claim to a stallion named Louis, in which she holds a 50 per cent stake.
Mr Justice Liam Kennedy oversaw the non-disputed claim on Tuesday. The defendants, residing at Hillview Stables, Ballymoon, Bagenalstown, County Carlow, have unequivocally refuted all accusations levelled against them.
The solicitors of Ms Teltsch successfully managed to dismiss the Buckleys’ defence and counterclaim, due to their inability to adhere to a court instruction to reveal specific documents and materials to the plaintiff. During the court session, the Buckleys have been notably absent and no assertions were initiated in their defence. After assessing all the evidence, the magistrate announced that he will be giving his decision in the following days.