Nikki Hayes discharged over money-laundering offence

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

Former radio DJ Nikki Hayes, whose real name is Eimear Black O’Keeffe, was discharged from the indictment at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 7 October 2024. The proceedings were reported on 7 October 2024.

O’Keeffe had previously pleaded guilty on the basis of recklessness to possessing €10,000 as the proceeds of crime in a Permanent TSB account within the State on 5 November 2020. Two further counts of possessing €2,600 and €2,400 as the proceeds of crime in her account on 6 November 2020 were taken into consideration.

Judge Martina Baxter said an 18-month sentence would have been appropriate, but dealt with the matter under section 100 of the Criminal Justice Act. O’Keeffe did not incur a criminal conviction. The judge accepted that she had been vulnerable and taken advantage of, and took account of her rehabilitation from drugs and alcohol.

The court heard that €15,000 had been transferred from an injured party’s account into O’Keeffe’s account. Some was blocked and returned, initially leaving the bank with a loss of around €2,000. By the final hearing, O’Keeffe had repaid all the money taken from the injured party’s account.

O’Keeffe told gardaí she had been offered a way to make about €2,000 by allowing her account to be used. Garda Neill Gavin said she became alarmed when she saw the money arrive but was pressured to continue. He could not say whether a woman seen making ATM withdrawals was O’Keeffe; she told gardaí she had not made them.