Family asks US court to release David Drumm on bail

Members of David Drumm’s family have written to a US court asking that the former chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank be released on bail, ahead of any future extradition hearing.

Mr Drumm, who faces a possible return to Ireland, will attend a bail hearing tomorrow. In the documents lodged at Massachusetts District Court, he is backed by family and friends, one of whom states the Irish Government is treating Drumm as “a pariah”.

In addition, the company Mr Drumm is working for in New York said it would “eagerly welcome him back”.

In a two-page letter to Judge Donald Cabell, Mr Drumm’s wife Lorraine stated they have been married 24 years, have two daughters and are “heartbroken without him at home”.

Describing her husband as her best friend and “the love of my life”, she said: “We are also in shock that David could be held in custody when he has tried everything he could to deal with the situation we find ourselves in.”

She outlines the relationship the family have with the US, having first lived there in 1998, and how on their return in 2009 they had to readjust as he took a job in New York while they continued to live in the Massachusetts town of Wellesley.

“David’s job is crucial for our family which is why he is willing to commute to New York,” she said, adding he is “the sole income provider for our family”.

“David never considered running, he wanted to do the right thing,” she wrote. His wife further stated if he was to flee the jurisdiction, with the family home having been put up as collateral, “there would be devastating consequences — we would be homeless, penniless and unable to travel. He would absolutely never do that to us”.

David Drumm kisses his wife Lorraine goodbye.

As for the couple’s children, she wrote: “They have suffered enormous emotional trauma through this whole process.”

Mr Drumm’s sister also wrote that when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, “David was such a great support to me”, adding: “His compassion and dedication to me, his little sister, kept me strong and got me through this ordeal.

“David has always been open and honest about his situation in Ireland and his previous job there. He has always been willing to co-operate and answer any questions or queries that may arise.”

In a handwritten note David Drumm’s 80-year-old mother said: “He has been my rock all his working life in all my good and bad days.” She added: “Once again, your Honour, all I ask as his mother is to give him bail so he can sort out what he has to deal with down the line.”

In his statement, Mr Drumm’s Irish-based solicitor Michael Staines told the Massachusetts District Court that despite the Director of Public Prosecutions having charged others in Anglo in 2012 and 2013, “it appears that Ireland did not begin to issue warrants for Mr Drumm’s arrest until July 2014 and did not seek his extradition until December 2014”.

He said all the charges against Mr Drumm were “bailable in Ireland” and that there had been “extensive and unrelenting negative media attention” around Anglo and his client.

A string of US-based character references are provided. One states: “I am flabbergasted that the Irish Government is portraying him as such a pariah — this certainly is not the David Drumm I have come to know.”