No legal aid for FBI child porn suspect

A man the FBI has called “the largest facilitator of child porn in the world” has been refused legal aid prior to his application for a judicial review of the DPP’s decision not to prosecute him in Ireland.

Eric Eoin Marques, who is alleged to be the owner and administrator of an anonymous hosting site known as Freedom Hosting, is wanted by US authorities to face charges relating to conspiring to distribute and advertise child pornography, and advertising and distributing child pornography.

The 28-year-old, with an address at Mountjoy Square, Dublin, has been in custody since his arrest in August last year, after he was refused bail over concerns he represented a flight risk and that he may abscond or interfere with evidence in the case.

The charges against him relate to images on over 100 “anonymous websites”, described as being extremely violent, graphic, and depicting the rape and torture of pre-pubescent children.

In his decision to refuse legal aid for Mr Marques yesterday, Mr Justice John Edwards said: “It is fair to say that Mr Marques is in deep trouble.” He faced extradition for very serious offences, the possibility of being put on trial and a very lengthy sentence.

In these circumstances, the judge said, it was highly desirable that he be legally represented, but the question was whether he could afford it. The evidence was that over the last five to six years before his arrest, the judge said, he earned very substantial sums of money, running into seven figures rounded up.

In Detective Inspector Declan Daly’s analysis of monies moving to and from a Bank of America account, total identified lodgements and transfers amounted to approximately €1,098,000.

Moreover, the judge said, the evidence was that he wasn’t living a high lifestyle or an expensive lifestyle.

Mr Justice Edwards said large sums of money existed in a variety of bank accounts but those were all frozen by the FBI.

There were small amounts of disposable income in Irish bank accounts, he said, very modest sums which in themselves would not go next or near funding legal representation in terms of litigation before the court.

The difficulty was, the judge said, that there was money unaccounted for, an unexplained, six-figure sum, “at least unaccounted for in terms of a paper trail”.

Mr Marques’s evidence was that he transferred substantial sums to his then girlfriend and to certain associates of hers from time to time, the judge said, and that she had the ability to withdraw money from his bank account and did so.

His evidence was clear, Mr Justice Edwards said, that he didn’t have any hidden account and no liquid funds with which to pay his legal representation.

He said it would be difficult for outsiders looking in to believe that huge sums of money would be handed over or made available to his girlfriend without any account being kept, without any security or record of it existing, and apparently without any concern by Mr Marques.

The judge said it was suggested during submissions that Mr Marques was not a rounded individual and that this may explain the naivety on his part that had been advanced.

Mr Justice Edwards said he was not satisfied to give a recommendation to grant legal aid.

However, he said, he was not disposed to regard this as his final word on the matter. If some new evidence was put before the court, if there was expert testimony with regard to this man’s emotional functioning or psychological state, it might or might not make some difference.

If convicted, Mr Marques could face the remainder of his life in prison as the four charges could result in a sentence totalling 100 years.