The Bankrupt, the Conman, the Mafia and the Irish Connection

by Chris Moore

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Book cover for The Bankrupt, the Conman, the Mafia and the Irish Connection

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Colin Lees was everybody's friend. A successful businessman in the little town of Magherafelt, Co. Derry, he had charm, good connections and was a winner. Until, that is, it all went wrong. It all went wrong in 1992. His business empire collapsed under a mountain of debt, caused by over-ambitious expansion in previous years. Lees was in the hole for IR Punt35 million. On top of that, there was a further fraud involving a missing IR Punt23 million. Then it emerged that Lees had a second business in Scotland which was an MI6 shadow company. It had collapsed as well. The Fraud Squad moved in and Lees had to surrender his passport. His UK passport, that is. He did not tell them about his Irish passport, with which he flew the coop and went to the United States. There he soon relieved a Texas businessman of USD1 million in a scam and ruined the business of one of his father's oldest friends. He returned to Ireland in 1996 and, by the time he was finally arrested, was involved in a maze of criminal activity involving drugs shipments and money laundering for the Mafia. Colin Lees gets out of jail next year: the missing IR Punt23 million is waiting somewhere for him.
  • ISBN10 0717135942
  • ISBN13 9780717135943
  • Publish Date 7 November 2003
  • Publish Status Out of Print
  • Out of Print 18 December 2009
  • Publish Country IE
  • Publisher Gill
  • Imprint Gill & Macmillan Ltd
  • Format Paperback
  • Pages 256
  • Language English