Nikki Hayes discharged without conviction in money-laundering case

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. Judge Martina Baxter dealt with the case under Section 100 of the Criminal Justice Act, meaning she would not incur a criminal conviction. She avoided jail.

O’Keeffe had pleaded guilty to possessing €10,000 as the proceeds of crime in a Permanent TSB account in the State on 5 November 2020. Her plea was on the basis of recklessness, and it was accepted that she was a vulnerable person who had been taken advantage of. Two further counts, concerning €2,600 and €2,400 in the account on 6 November 2020, were taken into consideration.

The judge said an appropriate sentence would have been 18 months. She credited O’Keeffe with reducing her risk of reoffending, committing to rehabilitation and cooperating with the investigation. The court heard that O’Keeffe had repaid all the money taken from the injured party’s account.

The court heard that €15,000 taken from the injured party’s account had gone into O’Keeffe’s account, followed by withdrawals through Revolut and ATMs. O’Keeffe told gardaí that someone had suggested she could 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 the person who involved her pressurised her to continue. She denied making the ATM withdrawals, and Gavin could not say whether the woman observed making them was O’Keeffe. The court heard that she did not benefit materially from the offence.