Charge against Ciara Kelleher dismissed after two juries fail to reach verdict

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The charge against former Custom House Capital manager Ciara Kelleher was dismissed after the Director of Public Prosecutions decided against a third trial. Two juries had failed to reach verdicts.

At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, the prosecutor told Judge Martin Nolan that a nolle prosequi could be entered, meaning the charge was being dismissed. The proceedings were reported on 13 March 2025.

Kelleher denied one count of conspiring with others to defraud investors, clients and customers of Custom House Capital Ltd by intentionally misleading them about where or how their assets had been placed. The offence was alleged to have occurred in the State between October 2008 and July 2011.

At the second trial, the prosecution alleged that transactions were backed out of property before valuations were issued and that Kelleher knew of and was involved in a scheme to defraud investors. Her barrister, Anne Marie Lawlor SC, said the case was circumstantial and there was no direct evidence of an agreement to defraud. She said emails showed Kelleher seeking information from others to do her job.

The prosecution also conceded that Kelleher had nothing to gain from the fraud and made no profit from it. Kelleher said she had never been asked by her superiors to mislead clients about their investments.

Former chief executive Harry Cassidy, former head of private clients John Whyte and former head of finance Paul Lavery previously pleaded guilty to a related conspiracy to defraud. Non-executive director John Mulholland pleaded guilty to neglectful discharge of a director’s duty in relation to company dishonesty. At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Cassidy received six years and ten months, Whyte four years, Lavery three years and Mulholland 12 months.