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A former Anglo Irish Bank employee who stole more than 600,000 euros from his friends and family has been imprisoned for 5 and a half years.
Stephen Keogh (48) persuaded several friends and in-laws to invest money in high-interest accounts, while depositing the money in his own account and providing false documents to hide his thefts.
The Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Keogh “had essentially created a fiction that he was much more successful than he actually was” and stole the money because he was “living far beyond his means.”
Keogh, residing at The Lawn, Athlumney Abbey, Navan, Co Meath, pleaded guilty to stealing a total of € 611,139.35 from seven victims at various locations in Co Dublin and Co Meath on dates between 15 May 2002 and 27 April 2010..
Detective Garda John Trimble told Fionnuala O’Sullivan BL, on trial, that Keogh worked for Anglo Irish Bank between 2001 and 2005 and that he eventually ended up working for Fiat in 2008.
Det Gda Trimble said Keogh persuaded several people, including her mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and an old family friend, to invest large amounts of money in high-interest bank accounts with Anglo Irish Bank.
Keogh, on the other hand, deposited most of this money into his own account. He also took money from his brother-in-law and groomsman to pay for cars that were never placed in his name.
He was also withdrawing money from his wife’s credit card account without her knowledge. Her family realized what had happened in 2009 after an incident in which her mother-in-law telephoned to ask if a check was missing from her checkbook and Keogh ran out of the house.
Keogh was asked to leave the family home in 2010 and went to the United States. He returned in 2011 and gave a voluntary interview to Gardaí in which he accepted responsibility for the crimes and said that he had no money left.
“I created this monster,” said Keogh during the interview. “I don’t know how it started and how it started. I wish it hadn’t and I wish I knew better.”
Keogh left Ireland again after this interview. As part of his work with a company that provided services to United States military bases, he spent time in Afghanistan and Iraq, countries from which it was not possible to extradite him.
There are no previous convictions.
He finally returned to the country in November 2019 and was arrested at the airport. It has no prior convictions.
Det Gda Trimble agreed with Niall Gallagher BL, arguing that his client had never tried to deny his offenses. He agreed that Keogh told Gardaí that he had no intention of letting people down from the start and that he believed he could fix things before they got out of control.
Mr. Gallagher said that his client “had essentially created a fiction that he was far more successful than he actually was” and that he was “living far beyond his means.” He said Keogh felt pressured to maintain this image and had let his expenses exceed his income.
Judge Martin Nolan said Keogh decided to subsidize his earnings by stealing from his friends. He said Keogh “left a lot of destruction in his wake” to fuel his lifestyle and give an impression of wealth and success.
Judge Nolan said his moral guilt was high and he behaved in a completely tortuous manner. He said the way Keogh heard the case did not give him credit, as he must have known the charges were in the offing and left the scene.
He sentenced Keogh to 5 1/2 years in prison. After passing the sentence, Judge Nolan went directly to Keogh to tell him that he had “made life miserable for many people.”
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