Leniency for man who prevented money laundering

Leniency for man who prevented money laundering

By Brion Hoban

A man prevented over €18,000 from being laundered after it was transferred into his account following a fraudulent email correspondence, a court has heard.

Alexander Cribbin (21) gave his bank details to a friend, but realised things were not “legitimate” when the money was transferred into his account and refrained from using it.

Dublin Criminal Courts of Justice 2 October 2016

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that because the accused man did not access the funds, they were able to be recalled by the bank and returned to the doctor to whom they belonged. The doctor had believed he was in contact via email with his pension broker when he transferred the money.

Cribbin of Woodford Downs, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to possession of the proceeds of criminal conduct within the state on November 1, 2019. He has no previous conviction.

Detective Garda Cathal Feeley told John Berry BL, prosecuting, that a doctor was dealing with via email who he thought was his pension broker and an arrangement was made for him to lodge a sum of money just in excess of €18,000.

Det Garda Feeley said the emails had been compromised and the doctor’s correspondence was actually being received by a third party who provided the doctor with the bank details of the accused man.

The doctor later made contact with the person he thought he had been dealing with and she told him she had not sent any emails. The doctor put in a request to recall the money which was successful due to the actions of Cribbin, the court heard.

In interview with gardai, Cribbin said he had been approached by a friend who had made money in “trading” and asked for use of his bank account. Cribbin gave his friend the bank details, but was later contacted via Snapchat by a person he did not know who told him his account would be used.

Cribbin told gardai that when he saw the amount of money that was transferred into his account he realised it was not “legitimate”.

He said he was in Paris at the time and made a point of not using the account for the remainder of the trip.

The court heard that nobody other than Cribbin had access to the account in order to withdraw the money and because no funds were spent by him, the full amount was able to be successfully recalled by the bank.

Det Garda Feeley said he believed that Cribbin would not have withdrawn the money from his account had he been asked.

Judge Nolan said that it seemed by the accused’s actions the money “could never have been taken from the account”. He said for that reason he would give the accused “leniency”.

Judge Nolan said he intended to impose a deferred sentence. He imposed a €100 fine and adjourned the matter until December 9, next.

He said that Cribbin must be of good behaviour until that date and indicated he would impose a sentence of six months’ imprisonment if the accused did not abide by that condition.

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