I’m not flight risk, David Drumm tells court

Former banking boss David Drumm has claimed he does not represent a flight risk, despite lawyers arguing he has the means to flee, borne out by his wealthy lifestyle, including the $100,000 (€93,000) annual spend on his children’s education.

The former head of Anglo Irish Bank, in jail since US authorities arrested him on October 10, appeared in a Boston federal courtroom yesterday, handcuffed before his detention hearing began.

Drumm, aged 49, who is seeking bail, is wanted here to face 33 criminal charges related to the collapse of Anglo.

While the US Attorney said he represented a “clear flight risk” and had effectively been a fugitive in the US since leaving Ireland following the collapse of Anglo Irish, Drumm told the court: “I didn’t run then and I’m not running now.”

Addressing the court directly, Drumm said the concept that he would “some how take off and run away from my family right now is anathema to me”, adding that he would never abandon friends who put their homes up as security for bail.

However, assistant US attorney Amy Burkart said Drumm “has the ability to marshal resources when he needs them”.

She said he had significant assets and the means to flee, that despite arriving in the US with debts of around $11m, he maintained a wealthy lifestyle and his children attended some of the most expensive schools in the country.

For several years, Drumm has lived in the wealthy Boston suburb of Wellesley. Ms Burkart noted how, despite being in bankruptcy court, he has a home estimated at $2m while paying about $100,000 a year in tuition to send both his daughters to private schools.

He had also retained at least eight lawyers to fight his extradition in Boston, New York, and Ireland.

Ms Burkart said proximity to the Canadian border meant there were “options for people who have means”.

Drumm’s lawyers said he was not only not a flight risk, but he also met special circumstances that merited his release, including his family’s dependence on his income and his inability to adequately mount a defence from prison.

Drumm resigned from Anglo in December 2008, a month before the bank was seized by the State as its bad-loan losses soared after the property market collapsed.

In February 2009, gardaí and corporate enforcers began a criminal investigation into the activities of the bank before it was nationalised. The former CEO was charged with 33 offences while at the bank, according to a court document made public in Boston on October 13.

They relate to allegations that Drumm was involved in the bank providing illegal financial assistance in 2007 and 2008 to the family of businessman Sean Quinn to shore up a leveraged bet in Anglo Irish.