Breifne O’Brien loses fight against sentence

Former businessman Breifne O’Brien has lost an appeal against his seven-year jail sentence for inducing others to advance millions of euro to him for investment in bogus property deals.

O’Brien, aged 54, of Monkstown Grove, Monkstown, Co Dublin, had pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 14 sample counts of making a gain or causing a loss by deception or theft of around €8.5m between 2003 and 2008.

He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment by Judge Patricia Ryan on October 8, 2014.