'€50k in brown envelopes turned trustees away from Magnier deal in Barne Estate row'

Trustee of the Barne Estate in Tipperary tells High Court cash offer raised a 'red flag' and was seen by the trust as a 'pure inducement'

The High Court proceedings were launched by bloodstock billionaire John Magnier over a failed €15m agreement. File Picture: Healy Racing

A director of the board of trustees behind the Co Tipperary Barne Estate, which is at the centre of High Court proceedings launched by bloodstock billionaire John Magnier over a failed €15m agreement, has told the court that €50,000 in brown envelopes offered by the Magnier side helped turn the trustees away from selling to him.

Benjamin Newman, a director of the trustees who hold Barne Estate for chief beneficiaries and heirs Richard Thomson-Moore and his sister, Alexandra, told Paul Gallagher, counsel for the Magnier side, today that the offer of €50,000 in two brown envelopes each containing €25K offered to the Thomson-Moores in September 2023 raised a "red flag" for the trust and was seen by them as a "pure inducement".