Gambler jailed for €832k theft from insurance clients

A chronic gambler who stole over €832,000 from clients while he worked in Dublin as a Canada Life agent has been jailed for four and a half years.

Martin Reilly, aged 59, convinced 18 of his clients to take money out of their existing Canada Life insurance policies and reinvest in other company products that did not exist. He instead put the money into an EBS account under his own name.

Reilly, with an address at West Side Estates, Togher, Cork, affirmed signed pleas of guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 80 counts of stealing money from clients between 2002 and 2011. He has no previous convictions.