Giovanni Nardone receives fully suspended four-year sentence for money laundering

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

Giovanni Nardone received a four-year prison sentence for money laundering and possession of an encrypted mobile phone. At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Orla Crowe suspended the sentence in full for four years, taking account of his age and other relevant factors. The proceedings were reported on November 13, 2025.

Nardone pleaded guilty to possessing €89,570, the proceeds of crime, at his home on April 1, 2021, and to possessing an encrypted phone in circumstances giving rise to a reasonable inference that he had it for a criminal offence.

Gardaí recovered the cash from a drawer under his bed. Nardone said it was savings from his work over the years and that he kept it there because it was a safe place. A cash-counting machine, vacuum bags and a vacuum packer were also found; he said the packer was for meat in the freezer.

Detective Garda John Rourke agreed with defence counsel James Dwyer SC that Nardone appeared to be holding the cash for others rather than himself. He accepted that there was no sign of wealth or that money had been invested in Nardone’s house over the years.

Judge Crowe said a probation report placed Nardone at low risk of reoffending. She identified the amount of cash, encrypted phone, cash-counting machine and vacuum-packing machine as aggravating factors. In mitigation, she considered his guilty plea, lack of previous convictions, absence of adverse attention and that he was a family man with no signs of wealth.