Navillus's cowboy-hatted Kerry owner goes for pints after NY court ordeal
Dónal O'Sullivan, the founder, owner, and president of Navillus, arriving at Brooklyn Federal Court in New York on Friday. Picture: Yuki Iwamura
The first of the Ballinskellig Two supporters club arrived outside Brooklyn’s main courthouse at 225 Cadman Plaza East before 9.30am yesterday.
Over the next two hours, the numbers swelled, as family members, friends and work colleagues of siblings Dónal O’Sullivan, 61 and Helen O’Sullivan, 62, from Coom, The Glen, near Ballinskelligs Bay, arrived to learn their fate.
Nearly two years after being convicted of 11 counts of felony, related to payroll fraud at Dónal’s construction company, Navillus, which deprived unions of benefits funds, the day of reckoning had come.
Across the road in a leafy park, a chap dressed as a cowboy entertained a mother-and-toddler group with songs about wheels on a bus. Outside the courthouse, a man wearing something resembling a cowboy hat showed up too — Dónal, immaculately dressed in a dark grey suit, white shirt, striped tie, and dark sunglasses.
Helen was already there, neatly dressed in a dark pants suit with pale blue handbag and matching shoes and sporting a tidy bob.
There were men in t-shirts too, with the Navillus logo emblazoned across them, a reference to a topping-out ceremony at one of the company’s projects.
Navillus has a huge profile in New York, having worked on a litany of prestige projects such as the 9/11 Memorial, Grand Central Station and One Vanderbilt.
Dónal and two of his brothers, Kevin and Leonard, built it from scratch since emigrating in the 1980s, Dónal ultimately becoming the owner and president, Leonard returning to Kerry and Kevin founding Time Square Construction, and in Ireland, the Tower Group.
Supporter numbers continued to swell as the countdown to sentencing continued. Passing through the courthouse lobby, where those travelling to the courtroom on the fourth floor were required to hand over their phones, one security guard remarked: “There’s an explosion of people here."
"It’s the O’Sullivan case,” her colleague answered, as if that explained it all.
When the courtroom doors opened just before 11.30am, Pádraig Naughton had joined the crowd.
The former Navillus financial controller was sentenced earlier this week to one year and one day for each of the 11 counts of felony — for which he had also been convicted in 2021 — to run concurrently. He was also sentenced to two years supervised release for each count, also to run concurrently.
As soon as he arrived, Mr Naughton embraced Dónal, in what was probably his 50th embrace of the day. Irish accents, specifically Kerry accents were evident everywhere, with banter in the corridors about Coom and The Glen and where the best pints were to be had.
The atmosphere changed in the packed courtroom and a hush descended as the clock moved to the appointed time. Dónal and Helen and their legal representatives sat at one table looking tense, while the government’s legal representatives, the prosecutors, sat opposite.
At 11.39am, Judge Pamela Chen swept in and spoke about possible sentences before referencing the large volume of letters she had received in support of the O’Sullivans. In fact such was the volume – 344 for Dónal, 114 for Helen — that the judge later remarked that it was “perhaps the most [letters] I have ever received” in relation to any case, enough perhaps for a John B Keane volume, if the Kerry playwright was still alive.
The judge was clearly impacted by the contents of the letters which she said revealed “extraordinary acts of kindness and generosity” throughout Dónal’s life and “noteworthy acts of philanthropy” made more impressive by the fact that he was actively involved in helping others himself, and that this help went way beyond family members and friends, into the wider community, such as helping out the victims of Superstorm Sandy and the Haiti earthquake victims, paying for volunteers’ board and flights where required.
“I do have to note though, that as many credits as he has earned, they don’t completely erase the bad,” the judge said, before imposing a six-month jail term for each of the 11 counts, to run concurrently, followed by two years of supervised release for each count, to run concurrently, and a special condition that he carry out 100 hours of community service during that time.
Dónal’s sentence came in the wake of Helen’s. The letters of support were referenced again with the judge saying “those letters for Helen really do illustrate an individual that’s extraordinary”, someone for whom society was “better off” if she was free.
Prior to sentencing, Helen was asked if she wished to speak. She declined, saying she had said all she wanted to say in a letter to the judge. The judge said while she did find Helen’s behaviour “aberrant”, “against the backdrop of her life, it was aberrational”.
It was clear, said Judge Chen, that she was a hardworking, kind-hearted person “who was involved in a serious crime out of misguided loyalty”.
She sentenced Helen to two years probation with a special condition of providing 100 hours community service. She was also fined $5,000.
Dónal, who paid Mr Naughton and his sister’s legal fees, was not fined, as restitution to victims defrauded by the multi-year payroll scheme is still to be ironed out. Prior to his own sentencing, Dónal did address the court, apologising to his family and his six children for a situation that caused them “much pain... sleepless nights... and an uncertain future”.
He apologised to his elderly mother Theresa, to his brother with Down Syndrome, John D, to his elderly aunt in Kerry, to his co-workers and to his sister Helen “for depriving her of the two most important things in her life – her family and her co-workers”. He also accepted responsibility for what had happened, as the owner of Navillus.
After the siblings had been sentenced, the judge raised the issue of the harsher sentencing of Mr Naughton (50), announcing that she would be re-visiting it, in light of “certain factors”, indicating that it may be aligned more closely to that of the Kerry siblings. That announcement led to tears of joy from Mr Naughton and his supporters.
Outside the courtroom, one supporter remarked that “the prayers and candles have worked”. Helen did her best to remain composed.
Speaking to the , she said:
She added that any good works she or Dónal had done were “not for recognition or praise”.
Dónal said he was relieved the sentencing was over and that he “couldn’t wait for the appeal to start, so that we can vindicate ourselves”.
He pointed out that “there were no victims that put in a claim in this case”, including employees. “In fact they wrote statements and letters saying they were not owed anything” (the court had determined that in the order of $1.2m was owed).
As for his plans for the rest of the day? “I’m going for a few pints,” he said.
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