O’Brien ordered to repay €1.85m to brother-in-law

ALLEGED pyramid scheme operator Breifne O’Brien has been ordered to repay €1.85 million given to him by his financier brother-in-law to invest.

The repayment order was not opposed by O’Brien who, in an email to Bernard Lambilliotte last December, had written: “My regret for what I have subjected to you does not decrease but instead I feel nothing but increasing shame.”

Mr Lambilliotte, managing director of London investment firm Ecofin, said in an affidavit that until December last, he had completely trusted his brother-in-law and had “no idea that there would be any difficulty in securing repayment of these monies.”

Mr Lambilliotte said he first became aware of “a potential problem over repayment” on December 10 last when O’Brien met him at his New York apartment “to inform me of the distressed situation of his financial affairs and that he would not be able to repay me” by December 12.

“I was very shocked by this news and it came as a complete surprise to me.”

The repayment order, made by Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday in the Commercial Court, relates to monies totalling €1,858,396 loaned by Mr Lambilliotte to O’Brien in May and December last year.

To date, O’Brien, of Invergarry, Silchester Road, Glenageary, has been ordered to repay sums of more than €16m given to him for investment purposes by 10 people, including Mr Lambilliotte. His assets have also been frozen in that amount and the judge has referred documents in the various cases to the Garda National Bureau of Fraud Investigation.

Yesterday, John Gleeson, counsel for Mr Lambilliotte, of Melbury Road, London, said his client had given r O’Brien some €1.85m.

There were “few enough documents” recording that fact because Mr Lambilliotte was his brother-in-law, but there were two clear acknowledgements of the debt in emails, counsel said.

O’Brien had told Mr Lambilliotte he was about to obtain a very preferential rate of interest from National Irish Bank but, to get that, he had to lodge a sum by December 5 last and there would be a 50/50 split. Mr Lambilliotte, who had already loaned O’Brien €1m in May 2008, then transferred a further $993,000 (€780,597).

That money was to have been repaid by December 12 last. O’Brien acknowledged the monies were due but said he was not in a position to repay.

Gabriel Gavigan, for O’Brien, said his client was making no admissions as to what was said in Mr Lambilliotte’s affidvait but was not objecting to judgment in the sum sought.

In an affidavit, Mr Lambilliotte said he advanced €1m to O’Brien on November 20, 2007, to secure options on investment properties in Dublin. In March 2008, O’Brien repaid €1,112,475, including a profit O’Brien said was realised on the options.

On May 8, 2008, Mr Lambilliotte said he advanced $1.845m (€1.12m) to O’Brien as part of a deposit required to secure options on other investment properties in Sandyford.

Such was the complete trust he had in O’Brien, he advanced that sum without any underlying documentation.

On September 12, O’Brien repaid €119,975, leaving the balance outstanding, which remained unpaid.