Rodolphus Allen Family Private Trust

The Rodolphus Allen Family Private Trust is a fraudulent organization posing as a property trust, operating in Ireland, whose purpose is to embezzle funds from investors while claiming to prevent the take over of their properties at risk of bank repossession by placing the property into a non-existent 'trust'.[1] It was set up by Charlie Allen, a Kilkenny based landscape gardener.[2][3][4] The trust is neither registered as a company nor as a charity in the Republic of Ireland or in any way registered with any financial regulatory body.

The trust has been labelled as 'legal nonsense' in the High Court, as a 'massive fraud and a scam' in the Dáil, as having the 'hallmarks of scam' by a senator and as 'predatory behaviour on vulnerable debtors' by the Irish Mortgage Holders Organization.[5][6]

History

The first mention of the 'trust' in the media was in July 2013 when the Irish Examiner reported that a number of indebted individuals had been pledging certain assets to this trust.[7]

The trust became the subject of further headlines during the repossession of Kennycourt Stud Farm in Brannockstown, County Kildare, Ireland. The farm was due to be sold by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, after its owner's inability to pay an outstanding loan of €814,000.[8] A member/supporter of the trust stated that the 'owner', Eugene McDermott, had signed over his property to the trust and was now a "tenant" of the trust.[9]

The legal status of the group has been called into question by a number of legal experts, financial advisers and politicians.

Karl Deeter, a financial analyst with Irish Mortgage Brokers and Advisors, after attending a presentation given by the group on 9 August 2013, said that he would be advising his clients to avoid the group. He stated: "the big concern, and the first thing on my list is that they won't disclose how it works - the bit where the banks can't go after you and they 'remove the debt'". He also criticized the lack of legal training of the individuals giving the presentation.[10]

In an article entitled "Let the Bullshit Begin: The Document behind the Kilkenny trust", Deeter examined a trust document used by the group, dismissing it as a "copy and paste job", noting the "lack of reference to any particular law (many documents with a legal foundation state the referenced legislation on them), and diminished powers of the trustee".[11]

Bill Holohan, a solicitor, stated the trust was "unlikely to work" in preventing repossession, claiming the trust document to be a "glorious mix of some American-style language, with some European-style language. To be honest, it smacks of a cut-and-paste job from a combination of sources". There was no mention of how to take property out of the trust in the document.[2]

The Irish Examiner wrote that "despite its growing popularity, there is no general understanding of how the trust can trump commitments borrowers have made in their loan agreements".[12]

References
  1. Costello, Norma (15 August 2015). "Trust 'preying'on home owners". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  2. "Trust Helping Borrowers Unlikely to Work". Irish Independent. July 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  3. "Inistioge man behind controversial trust". Kilkenny People. 11 September 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  4. Ryan, Conor Ryan and Vincent (26 November 2013). "Leader of mysterious trust, Charles Allen Snr, arrested". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  5. "Judge calls claims of activist in €51.4m case 'nonsense'". Independent.ie.
  6. Ryan, Conor Ryan and Vincent (20 July 2013). "Senator: Trust has 'hallmarks of scam'". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  7. Ryan, Conor; Vincent Ryan (19 July 2013). "Debtors protect assets in private trust". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  8. "Angry Scuffle at Stud Farm Protest". Kildare Nationalist. 3 September 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  9. "Middle Ireland Fights Back". Irish Examiner. 29 August 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  10. Deeter, Karl (9 August 2013). "The Kilkenny Trust that Makes Mortgages Disappear". Irish Mortgage Brokers. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  11. Deeter, Karl (9 August 2013). "Let the Bullshit Begin: The Document behind the Kilkenny trust". Irish Mortgage Brokers. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  12. Ryan, Conor Ryan and Vincent (19 July 2013). "Debtors protect assets in private trust". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 28 August 2021.

See also
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.