Hundreds of letters of support sent to judge ahead of Kerry developer's US sentencing

Ballinskelligs native Dónal O’Sullivan faces prospect of 20-year jail term in US after being convicted of fraud

Dónal O'Sullivan, founder of Navillus Construction, will be sentenced for fraud in New York next month.

Hundreds of letters of support have been submitted to the sentencing judge in the case of a Kerry man who faces the prospect of a 20-year jail term when sentenced for fraud in New York next month.

Lawyers for Ballinskelligs native Dónal O’Sullivan, founder and former CEO of Navillus Construction, one of New York’s largest construction firms, have already transmitted 344 letters of support to the court.

Mr O’Sullivan, aged 61, his sister Helen O’Sullivan, aged 62, who was company payroll administrator and former financial comptroller,  and Pádraig Naughton, 50, are due to be sentenced in June after being found guilty in October 2021 of wire fraud, mail fraud, embezzlement from employee benefits funds, submission of false remittance reports to union benefits funds, and conspiracy to commit those crimes.

The three were due to be sentenced last August, but the hearing has been rescheduled several times. In the meantime, Mr O’Sullivan and his sister, on bail on bonds of $500,000 and $250,000 respectively, have been permitted to return to Ireland on a number of occasions to visit their elderly mother in Ballinskelligs.

Kevin and Dónal O'Sullivan on Ballinskelligs beach during a visit home. Picture: Kerry's Eye 

While the O’Sullivans are due to be sentenced on the same date next month, the sentencing of Mr Naughton will take place separately following a request from his lawyer, framed in a way that suggests a breakdown in relations.

Mr O’Sullivan’s lawyer had indicated that his client would like all three sentenced on the same date, but Mr Naughton’s lawyers said: “We view it, at a minimum, as an implicit attempt to influence what Mr Naughton or his counsel might say at sentencing."

Multiple state agencies were involved in the case, including the FBI, the US Department of Labour, and Homeland Security.

Helen O'Sullivan, who was Navillus company payroll administrator and former financial comptroller, is also due to be sentenced in June.

Dónal, his sister Helen, and brothers Kevin and Leonard emigrated to the US in the 1980s and subsequently Dónal and Kevin founded Navillus. Kevin later left Navillus and in 2006 founded his own company, Time Square Construction, now part of the Tower Holdings Group.

Dónal was a director until 2020 of Tower Development Properties Ltd, a subsidiary of Tower Holdings Group, which is building the €20m Prism in Cork City and has permission to build a 34-storey hotel, Ireland’s tallest building, on the former Port of Cork site. 

Kevin, who was not convicted of anything, is president and CEO of the Tower Holdings Group. According to the Companies Registration Office, Dónal had a 50% shareholding in Tower Development Properties Ltd as of September 30, 2022.