Fugitive property trust organiser heads North

The fugitive organiser of a mysterious property trust has set up shop north of the border after looking to assert control of assets linked to €2bn worth of distressed loans.

Despite a bench warrant being issued for his arrest, this man has continued to expand his Rodolphus Allen family trust.

Yesterday, it held a signing-in session at the Canal Court Hotel in Newry, Co Down, where it stood to earn at least €40,000 from about 100 applicants hoping the trust can prevent lenders acting on possession orders.

On Aug 31 a High Court warrant was issued for the arrest of Charles Allen Sr, a gardener of Prior Park, Inistioge, Co Kilkenny, on the grounds that he was in contempt of court. The contempt related to a protest that forced court-appointed receivers off a stud farm in Kildare.

He has not been arrested as he has relocated to the North.

When confronted by the Irish Examiner, he did not answer questions about when he would return to the Republic.

“I owe you no explanation or your sad little paper. I am not engaging with you,” he said.

In recent weeks his trust has continued to write to banks, receivers, and auctioneers demanding hundreds of millions of euro-worth of damages if they do not vacate properties signed into his trust. It is understood the demands have been ignored.

In Newry, Mr Allen refused to explain how his trust expects to allow people to beat repossession orders, nor if he had responded to inquiries by Revenue about what he has earned from 2,000 distressed borrowers.