It was Gayle Killilea Dunne’s first business foray into the US and not a happy one: She was ripped off by her lawyer, who stole half a million dollars within weeks of her wiring it to his account.

A BANK to which Gayle Dunne wired $500,000 (€365,000) has no record of any account held by a lawyer accused of siphoning off the money from the Dublin socialite.