John Cullen gets suspended sentence for €155k university fraud

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

John Cullen received a fully suspended three-year prison sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The proceedings were reported on 8 July 2020.

Cullen pleaded guilty to making a gain for himself by deception by lodging €155,724.68 into his Bank of Ireland account at James Street, Dublin 8, on 1 December 2014.

Judge Melanie Greally said Cullen’s role was to provide an account through which funds stolen from University College Cork could be channelled. She said it was accepted that the offence was a one-off incident for which he received a very small reward.

Defence counsel Sean Gillane SC said almost all of the money was to be used by others and that Cullen had been used by others because he had a bank account.

Judge Greally said Cullen’s family had compensated UCC and AIG, and that full restitution and no actual loss to UCC were significant mitigating factors. She suspended the sentence in full on condition that Cullen keep the peace and be of good behaviour for three years.