Neil O'Brien receives suspended sentence for €700,000 fraud

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

Neil O'Brien received a fully suspended three-year sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for fraudulently obtaining over €700,000. The proceedings were reported on 25 July 2018.

O'Brien, 62, of Rathbeggan, Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath, pleaded guilty to forgery charges relating to cheques, transfer instructions and withdrawals involving accounts in the names of his former wife and daughter. The offences took place between 2002 and 2008. He also admitted two counts of false accounting between January 2009 and August 2013. He had no previous convictions.

A forensic accountant estimated that €721,000 went to O'Brien, and the report said it was shown to have been applied largely to family expenses. Garda Kieran Tansey agreed that greed was not the motivation and that O'Brien had allowed his family to continue living a lifestyle he could not fund. O'Brien told gardaí in March 2014 that his wife had not been consulted about the transactions and that he had been embarrassed to tell her he could not fund their lifestyle.

His former wife did not believe a custodial sentence would benefit anyone, and there were no victim impact statements before the court. Judge Karen O'Connor found exceptional circumstances justified departing from custody. She suspended the sentence on condition that O'Brien continued to engage in psychological services and took his prescribed medication.