A susceptible 52-year-old woman named Mary O’Sullivan, resident of Ballymakealy Grove, Celbridge, Co Kildare, was involved in an online scam through her bank account but managed to escape prison time for her money laundering charge. O’Sullivan was emotionally unstable due her marriage fallout when she began conversing online with a man claiming to be an amorous US soldier.
The man persuaded O’Sullivan to open a bank account, which was later exploited to funnel money from a €65,000 invoicing con perpetrated by fraudsters. Despite her gullibility, O’Sullivan insisted to authorities that she believed the man was genuine and failed to see any underlying deceit.
The court took into account O’Sullivan’s vulnerability, her difficulty in predicting the aftermath of her decisions, and her susceptibility to manipulation in times of emotional stress. A UK entrepreneur, who sustained a significant financial blow due to the invoice scam, delivered a victim impact report, outlining her loss of over €65,000 to the court.
Authorities disclosed to the court that no funds had been recovered, although some assets had been seized in Nigeria. O’Sullivan, who had no prior criminal record, admitted to recklessly laundering money at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on April 8th, 2019.
At the sentencing on Friday, Judge Martin Nolan elucidated that online criminals had compromised the entrepreneur’s account and manipulated her into transferring money into O’Sullivan’s Bank of Ireland account, from where it was scattered. He acknowledged the entrepreneur’s loss of €65,000 and further financial damage of close to €100,000 due to payments to the receiver of the diverted funds.
Introducing O’Sullivan’s case, Judge Nolan emphasised her singled-out weaknesses, small share of blame, and her lack of understanding of the fraudulent activities taking place. He viewed her actions as reckless but without intent to further indulge in such activities. Given her particular circumstances and vulnerability, Judge Nolan deemed a jail sentence as unfair and suspended her two-year sentence completely.
O’Sullivan informed the officers that a gent she befriended on social media prompted her to open a bank account. This man, who claimed to be a US military personnel stationed in Nigeria, had become quite friendly with her at a time when her marriage was shaky.
The man proposed that O’Sullivan assist in moving €65,000, out of which she was allowed to retain €5,000. Once the funds hit the account, she completed an international transfer form to send €60,000 to Nigeria and tried to send an additional €1,500 through Western Union.
Two cash withdrawals totalling €600 were made from ATMs, and she also conducted several smaller transactions upon the man’s request. O’Sullivan admitted she spent some of the funds on groceries.
O’Sullivan claimed that she was a trusting person and saw nothing suspicious about this setup initially. The man assured her that he was extremely wealthy and would reimburse her for the funds sent, with the promise of gifting her a house and a vehicle, but she had no intention to abandon her spouse.
Her trust in the man and his supposed military background was not challenged until a friend suggested she might be the subject of a scam. However, O’Sullivan confronted the man about this and continued to believe his innocence.
The revelation that the funds were illicit only came to light when informed by the police, something she claimed to have been previously completely unware of.