Michael Lynn Continues to Generate Headlines

He may have fled the country in disgrace two years ago, but Michael Lynn just can't keep himself out of the Irish newspaper headlines. Two stories, one in the Irish Mail on Sunday and the other in the Sunday Times, yesterday, prove that the on-the-run Mayo solicitor is most definitely alive and well.

The Mail on Sunday article, once again written by Michael O'Farrell (who seems to have become Mr. Lynn's tail in Europe) features Lynn directly. Apparently he's being accused of locking clients in his Cabanas development in Tavira on the Portuguese Algarve out of their swimming pool. 

Residents at  the complex have apparently, taken court action to be allowed to use their own pool. A letter was received by owners from Vantea (to whom Lynn transferred ownership of the development but is a company strongly suspected to be owned by him in any case) asking them to pay management fees due. 

Owners at the complex are quoted as saying that; 'TV's and fridges have been removed from a number of apartments and that guaranteed rental payments owed by the management company had not been paid.'

The swimming pool and bar area are now, apparently, locked up and signs have been removed from the entrance to the pool area. 

The piece also says that a group of investors is seeking to seize the land on which phase 2 of the project was to be built and the contractor, Bemposta, is also seeking to freeze the site as it claims it has not been paid for building work completed to date. 

The Mail on Sunday article isn't available online, but we've scanned a copy of it and will upload a link to it here in the next day or two. 

The second story, carried by the Sunday Times, refers to Lynn indirectly, via his former property agency, KenDar. Some of you might remember the company gave away a property in Bankso, Bulgaria on RTE's Late Late Show in association with the Property Expo and the Sunday Business Post. 

Well the winners, David and Olivia Timlin, who are co-incidentally also from Co. Mayo, never received the property (surprise, surprise) and, in the absence of KenDar, have decided to sue RTE for breach of contract. 

According to the piece: "RTE declined to comment on the case 'which is still ongoing'. The couple referred all queries to Manus Sweeney, their solicitor, who also declined to comment.

You can find the full article here. 

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Lynn Interviewed by Mail and Played on RTE

Ireland's most famous rogue solicitor, Michael Lynn was interviewed in last week's Mail on Sunday by Michael O'Farrell. Some of this interview was also played on Marian Finnucane's show on RTE at the weekend. 

The mail doesn't have it's Irish edition online but you'll find a scanned copy of the entire interview here. Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4 - click on the images to enlarge. You'll find a link to the interview on Marian Finnucane (presented by Rachel English) here (you'll need Real Player to play it). The Lynn interview kicks in at 0:34:18. Thanks to the guys at The Property Pin for both links.

Some excerpts from the interview include:

“If you wanted to get to the key question, did I act fraudulently in terms of, and had I two mortgages, three mortgages against the same property, ah, it's true I had extensive borrowings." Michael O'Farrell asks him, "But was it fraudulent?" To which Lynn replies: "Absolutely not, we were all, including myself, we were all following the ... I was the Celtic Cub, ah, who was out of control, honestly, in hindsight, I was greedy, ah, and over-ambitious, but yes there were other parties. I ... I'm sorry for what happened to them and I believe that right now the key question for me is that if I'm sorry I have to show it by actions as opposed to just words."

Lynn continues: "The truth is I want to go back, the life that I'm leading and the pressure ... I've a wonderful wife and she's been extremely loyal to me and loyal to us as a couple. I... I'm extremely lucky. I wouldn't see any reason why I would have to go to prison and the one thing I want to make clear is I'm not going to be a scapegoat for others, absolutely not, and I'm not going to be used as an example for what was recognised as an accepted form and practice of business by bankers, lawyers, accountants and auctioneers and I'm not going to be the poster boy who ends up in prison, to my cost. 

The Law Society responded in yesterday's Irish Times saying:

"The behaviour of Mr Lynn was shameful and disgraceful." Ken Murphy said that the society was still paying compensation from its fund to clients who had lost money because of his activities.

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Lynn Insurance Claims may not be Honoured

A report on the RTE website has claimed that insurance companies are moving to protect themselves against claims from those defrauded by Michael Lynn and his companies. The full report is below.

"Two insurance companies have secured court orders that effectively mean they will not have to pay out multi-million euro claims on many insurance policies taken out by missing solicitor Michael Lynn and his property company.

The order was granted because of alleged fraudulent misrepresentation and non-disclosure of material facts.

More than 250 claims against the policies have been made to date by banks and others. All are owed vast sums by Mr Lynn, who has estimated liabilities of some €80m.

In making the orders against Mr Lynn and his company, Mr Justice Peter Kelly noted the court has yet to determine whether Fiona McAleenan, a solicitor in Mr Lynn's firm, is entitled to insurance cover relating to any undertakings she signed while working in the practice.

In claiming they were entitled to refuse to pay out on foot of the policies, both companies argued the vast majority of claims related to alleged breach of residential mortgage solicitors' undertakings.

They claimed their investigations suggested a practice in Mr Lynn's firm, from at least 2003, of providing multiple undertakings relating to the same property but this practice was not disclosed to them.

The companies also claimed the defendants must have been aware they would not be able to comply with undertakings given on foot of the policies.

They alleged they were entitled to have declared void two particular policies taken out with them for alleged non-disclosure of material fact by the defendants and also said the policies should be declared void for fraudulent misrepresentation on the proposal form.

Chubb Insurance Company of Europ SA and WR Berkley Insurance Europe Ltd had taken the Commercial Court proceedings against Michael Lynn and Fiona McAleenan.

The insurance companies say the practised as Michael Lynn & Company, and Overseas Legal and Tax Services Ltd trading as Overseas Property Law.

Paul Sreenan SC applied for orders against Mr Lynn and Overseas, declaring the policies void on grounds of failure by Mr Lynn and Overseas to enter any defence in the case.

The proceedings against Ms McAleenan, of Betaghstown, Co Meath, will be heard at a later stage.

Mr Sreenan stressed his application was without prejudice to the claims made by Ms McAleenan. He said Ms McAleenan was defending the case on the basis she was not a partner in the firm and the insurance policy was a composite policy, not a joint policy.

In making the orders against Mr Lynn and Overseas, Mr Justice Kelly said the companies were entitled to have the policies declared void ab initio (from the beginning) because of non-disclosure of material facts and fraudulent misrepresentation on the part of Mr Lynn and Overseas.

The proceedings arose after the two companies agreed to provide cover for Michael Lynn & Company, the practice set up by Mr Lynn, and Overseas Property Law, which provided legal services for persons investing in overseas property.

The cover sought was professional indemnity cover in excess of the €2.5m primary cover to be provcided by AIG Insurance Company Ltd.

Chubb claimed, relying on representations of the defendants, it agreed to provide €4.5m cover for each claim in excess of €2.5m for the period from 1 January 2007 to 1 January 2008.

WR Berkley claimed it agreed, also in reliance on representations of the defendants, to provide (over the period 18 May 2007 to 31 December 2007) €4m cover for claims in excess of a €7m cover already in place.

Article from RTE.

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For a selection of property from around the world click here.

For a listing of agents selling overseas property click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing property overseas click here.

For news on the world of overseas property click here.

For new releases and product updates from agents around the world click here.

For a list of upcoming overseas property exhibitions around the country click here.

How have people found the OverseasCafe.com Blog

Folks seem to like this particular list for some reason, it got a lot of traffic last time around, so here we go again.

This is the list of the top search terms leading to the site over the past two months (we haven't done one of these in a while). They're ordered from the most popular downwards.

You'll notice that the regular favourites of Bulgarian Dreams, MRI Overseas Property and the Orient Palace in Bodrum are still clocking up major amounts of traffic. MacAnthony's in particular, and their chief executive, Darragh MacAnthony, seem to be particularly heavily searched for, and the text of the searches would indicate that there's quite a bit of dissatisfaction out there about the company and its directors. Our old pal, Hans Bartsen, from the Orient Palace also seems to be a pretty popular (or unpopular, depending on what way you look at it) individual. Robert Jenkin of Bulgarian Dreams makes a few appearances as does the bould Michael Lynn, he of KenDar Holdings, Overseas Property Law, and nicking €80m worth of bank money fame.

This is the most popular blog for MacAnthony's, it's this one for Bulgarian Dreams and this one for the Orient Palace. You'll find a few blogs on Michael Lynn and his worldwide travels but this is the main one.

And the winners are:

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COMPLAINTS MRI PROPERTY VIEWING FLORIDA

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Lynn to Give Evidence via Video Link

Those who have been duped by rogue solicitor, Michael Lynn, will no doubt be absolutely hopping mad at the news that he is to be allowed to give evidence in an Irish case without being brought back to Ireland. 

Lynn ran overseas property company, KenDar Holdings, roping in celebrity investors such as ex-Mayo footballer Willie-Joe Padden. The company also worked through a network of estate agents closely connected to the GAA and other sports organisations. 

Mr Lynn has agreed to testify in the case being taken by one of his former clients, Brian Cunningham, against First Active, over the collapse of his construction business.

Lynn refused to return to Ireland, and as there are no warrants yet which can be acted on abroad, he has agreed to give evidence via a video link.

The fact that Lynn's whereabouts are well known and that former investors in his property and legal companies still have no access to him to receive remuneration for money that was stolen from them will leave them fuming. 

Lynn is to give evidence from London on Friday 10 October and the following Monday and Tuesday if necessary.

The full story is available on the RTE website here. 

Irish Property Law Website

Those of you unfamiliar with Michael Lynn and his recent antics you should take a look at our previous blog on the matter.

Recently while browsing around the web we were surprised to find more than a few remnants of the bould Mick lying around the place (apart from the obvious references to his failures to appear in court, mortgage fraud, etc). For a start the website for his overseas property law firm, www.overseaspropertylaw.com, is still alive and kicking (or at least it was at time of typing this blog) and looking very well it has to be said.

The part of the site which claims 'Irish Buyers Misguided on Need for Lawyers Overseas' is extremely ironic and would be funny if the whole episode weren't so serious for those individuals defrauded by Mr. Lynn.

Actually, the contents of the site are fine, and most of the information there is factual and correct. It is just unfortunate that Lynn appears to have taken the 'road far less travelled' and done a bunk with money from, not alone the banks, but from a large selection of unsuspecting property buyers as well. We did try using the contact details on the site but, surprise, surprise, they don't work.

The Kendar Holdings and Kendar Global websites have now passed into oblivion, although the latter did hang around in Ireland for a lot longer than Lynn himself. Lynn has also maintained his position on RateMySolicitor.com but it's hardly a ringing endorsement of his professional career in Ireland. Long before there were any rumblings about his property dealings and multiple mortgage scams there were some atrocious reviews of him and his practice on the site. Maybe the Law Society should use it as a means to flag potentially dodgy solicitors, as they don't seem to be capable of finding them by any other means.

If you want to find a more reliable listing of advisors who may be able to help you in your quest to purchase overseas then you should search the advisors on the OverseasCafe.com website.

For a list of articles on the site relating to Lynn and his activities click here.

www.OverseasCafe.com

Michael Lynn/Kendar update

As per the post below, unfortunately it hasn't taken very long for more media coverage of the Michael Lynn/KenDar case.

There is a full two page feature by Simon Carswell in today's (Saturday Feb 16th) Irish Times in the Weekender section.

There isn't really much new in the piece except for a brief interview with Nuno Paulino, the accountant who's running Vantea. This is the company which took over KenDar's development in Cabanas on the Portuguese Algarve by purchasing most of Lynn's holding last December.

The article does give a good up-to-date summary of the entire case though so if it affects you in any way it may be worth getting your hands on it. The link to the pretty substantial piece is at http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/newsfeatures/2008/0216/1203093372498.html but you'll need to subscribe to get it online.

http://www.overseascafe.com/ - Ireland's Overseas Property Portal