Courts / Kildare / Report

Cartel Lieutenant Declan Brady sentenced for laundering crime cash, wife and mistress avoid jail

Date
2021-07-30

Stage
Sentence

Primary locality
Celbridge

County
Kildare

Summary

Senior Kinahan Cartel lieutenant Declan Brady was sentenced to eight years and three months in prison, with the final year suspended, for laundering €268,940 of crime cash. He is already serving 11‑and‑a‑half years for firearms offences. Brady's wife, Deirdre Brady, received a fully suspended three‑year sentence for laundering €770,499, and former mistress Erika Lukacs, aged 37, received a fully suspended three‑year sentence for laundering €196,864. The court found that the laundering involved mortgage payments on a Spanish holiday property, a wedding at Druid's Glen, and transfers to other gang members. Brady's wife and Lukacs were not involved in the underlying criminality that generated the cash, and the judge considered their lack of prior convictions and good character in deciding on suspended sentences. The sentences will run from 23 April 2021, the date of Brady's guilty plea.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Cartel Lieutenant Declan Brady sentenced for laundering crime cash, wife and mistress avoid jail. Charges or matters: concealing cash to the value of €268,940 in the attic of The Dairy, Rathasker Road, Naas, Co Kildare, on January 24, 2017; concealing or disguising the true nature or source of money credited to a Permanent TSB Account on various dates between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014, within the State, knowing or believing or being reckless as to whether the property, in the names of Declan Brady and Deirdre Brady, was the proceeds of criminal conduct; 17 more money laundering offences and Lukacs pleaded guilty to five more money laundering offences. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

April 23 Other
January 24, 2017 Incident
23 April 2021 Other
April 13 Other
January 1, 2014 Other
December 31, 2014 Other
January 1, 2012 Hearing Or Sentence
December 31, 2012 Hearing Or Sentence
July 2019 Incident
October 2016 Other
May 2015 Other
July 3, 2018 Incident
2014 and 2016 Other
2014 and 2017 Other
2012 and 2017 Other
2012 and 2016 Other
2010 and 2015 Other
2021-07-30 Publication

Why: Det Sgt Anderson explained that Mrs Brady's Ulster Bank account showed cash lodgements in amounts of €3,000 were made by her to a Spanish account each month. CNI source report

Case subjects

Deirdre Brady

Convicted Person

Charges: concealing cash to the value of €268,940 in the attic of The Dairy, Rathasker Road, Naas, Co Kildare, on January 24, 2017; concealing or disguising the true nature or source of money credited to a Permanent TSB Account on various dates between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014, within the State, knowing or believing or being reckless as to whether the property, in the names of Declan Brady and Deirdre Brady, was the proceeds of criminal conduct; 17 more money laundering offences and Lukacs pleaded guilty to five more money laundering offences (Admitted)

Plea: Guilty

Outcome: Photo: Collins) Senior Kinahan Cartel lieutenant Declan Brady has been jailed for laundering cash from a criminal organisation while his wife and former "mistress" have received fully suspended sentences at the Special Criminal Court. In July 2019 Brady, who was tasked by senior criminal figures abroad to supervise the weapons cache, was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years imprisonment after pleading guilty to possession of the weapons.

Erika Lukacs

Defendant

Charges: concealing cash to the value of €268,940 in the attic of The Dairy, Rathasker Road, Naas, Co Kildare, on January 24, 2017 (Alleged Or Contested)

Outcome: Erika Lukacs (37) also received a fully suspended three-year sentence for laundering €196,864. Ms Lukacs had similarly no involvement in the criminal gang or criminal activity, the judge said, but she "must have suspected a disconnect between his [Declan Brady's] apparent legitimate activities and these sums of money." He said the court also considered a custodial sentence for Ms Lukacs but taking into account her guilty plea, previous good record and that she is the carer of a young child, he said a prison term would be "harsh and disproportionate" on the mother and child.