Catriona Carey A vulture fund is
what it sounds like—a fund that buys struggling debts, such as a mortgage. What Catriona Carey
would do is tell prospective clients that her firm would buy the distressed mortgage that
they could never pay off. The client could keep their house, and Carey would charge
them interest for a long-term profit. But as you can guess, this isn’t what happened.
Catriona Carey was born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1977 or 1978. Oddly, Carey's records
aren't clear on her birth year. However, nobody's arguing her impact on women's sports in Ireland.
Young Carey started playing stick and ball games, like field hockey and Camogie,
at a young age. Her older brother, DJ Carey, was an active athlete and went on to have a successful
pro career of his own. Carey grew up playing with DJ, leading to a love of sports and competition.
Carey made her career in 1998 when she signed onto the Ireland National Field Hockey team.
She played in 72 matches over seven years. Before she retired from the
sport, Carey led her country to the 2005 EuroHockey Nations Championship in Dublin.
However, before her highly-touted field hockey career, Carey played a sport called Camogie.
Camogie In Ireland, Camogie is a popular
stick and ball game played exclusively by women. The sport is quite similar to field hockey, so her
skills transitioned well on the Camogie field. She started playing professionally in 1992
when she joined the Clara GAA club, GAA standing for Gaelic Athletic Association.
Camogie and Hurling are sports invented in Ireland hundreds of years ago. So Carey
wasn't just excelling at a popular sport; she participated in her country's cultural tradition.
Retirement Both Carey and her
brother DJ made names for themselves through these traditional sports. And after 14 years
in Irish professional sports, Carey decided it was time to hang up the stick and helmet.
Carey played sports almost all her adult life. Now she was in her early 30s and
needed a career change. Fortunately, Carey studied accounting in school,
so DJ gave her a job at his cleaning company. He put her in charge of his company's finances
because of her training and familial ties. He'd regret that decision two years later.
The Accountant Carey was charged with
her first criminal offense in 2008, only two years after retiring from professional
sports and working for her brother. Carey was forced to resign from DJ's company and
pay a fine to the Revenue Commissioners, an Irish government agency that collects taxes
and enforces the National tax code. Basically, they're the Irish IRS.
They investigated Carey after she used her accounting skills to send them a
falsified invoice from DJ's company. Their investigators
traced the invoice back to Carey, who took the fall for the whole scheme.
The Revenue Commissioners fined Carey $1,622 for trying to trick them. However,
the ensuing court hearing revealed Carey's other financial crimes against the Revenue Commissioner.
Carey also falsified another invoice that claimed the company was entitled to a tax return according
to the evidence they compiled. When the return arrived in the mail, Carey pocketed the money for
herself. The fine, of course, helped the Revenue Commissioners get some of their money back.
The court hearing ended, and Carey left the building in disgrace. She submitted her
resignation to DJ less than six months after the hearing and went to work on her own. Once again,
Carey's future was uncertain. All she had was her training as an accountant
and her experience in sports. Legally, she'd have a hard time using one of those skills.
Carey could've gone into coaching or come out of retirement for a few years. She hinted at playing
again in 2008 but never signed any contracts. Instead, Carey decided to continue her accounting
career. But since no accounting firm or company would hire her, Carey had to get creative.
So, she founded Careysfort Asset Estates,
a financial firm that marketed itself as a vulture fund but never actually bought any dying debts.
Vulture Funds As we said at the beginning, a vulture
fund is what it sounds like. A fund that buys struggling debts like mortgages. Remember when we
said she would tell clients that they could keep their house, and Carey would charge them interest?
An Irish chef named Sharon O'Riordan was one such client. Sharon worked
for a hospital in Castletown, Ireland, cooking in their massive kitchens. But,
despite the steady work, Sharon admits that she got behind on her mortgage. Soon,
she found herself in deep water with her lender. She was about to lose her home.
Sharon spent many days in court fighting with her lender over the repossession. That's
where she met a barrister who offered Sharon a solution to all her problems.
The barrister mentioned a woman named Catriona Carey. They explained that Carey is an accountant
offering a financial product to those in need: a bailout that benefits both parties.
It almost sounded too good to be true. But Sharon was desperate,
and the deal made sense. Vulture funds are pretty standard. Why couldn't one
be helpful? Sharon contacted Carey and set up a meeting.
Cary impressed Sharon when they met for the first time. She later told journalists for RTE,
an Irish investigative media company, that Carey's handshake impressed her the
most. It was a firm handshake. To Sharon, people who use a firm handshake are straightforward
people that don't beat around the bush. In hindsight, Sharon views Carey as the exception.
But at the time, Sharon found Carey personable and likable. Carey was also flexible
during their negotiations. She initially asked for a $27,000 deposit from Sharon. Unfortunately,
the hospital chef didn't have 27k. So Carey said she'd settle for $5,400.
Sharon assumed Carey was accepting a lower deposit because she wanted to help her out. However,
Sharon didn't have $5k either. She had to ask her family to let her borrow the money. They gave her
the much-needed funds assuming that Carey's offer would save Sharon from financial ruin.
In December of 2020, Sharon collected their money and handed every dollar over to Carey
at their meetup spot in a nearby hotel called the Midlands. After receiving the firm handshake,
Sharon says she felt like the happiest person on earth as she drove home from the hotel.
Carey promised to pay her back 30 days later. Carey's firm would buy her mortgage not long
after, giving Sharon a new start in life. Sharon said it was like a Christmas miracle.
The deal felt like a miracle when Sharon received an email
in December 2020 from Careysfort telling her they officially bought the old mortgage
and were preparing new contracts set for signing by the end of January.
Sharon didn't know it at the time, but she wasn't the only person to receive an email like this.
There were several other Careysfort clients all across Ireland who expected new contracts.
The email even specified that they'd finish structuring the written agreement by the end
of January. Miriam and Philip Tormey, an Irish couple, read the same message from
Careysfort. They had struck a similar deal with Carey, receiving the same kindness,
understanding, flexibility, and firm handshake.
Phillip lost his job after the company he worked for collapsed.
Philip and Miriam's finances, in turn, fell apart. They soon found themselves
in the same courts Sharon frequented. They happened to run into the same barrister,
who gave them the same tip: go see Catriona Carey. She'll solve all your problems.
The only difference between Miriam and Phillip was that they could afford to pay the full deposit.
Miriam's name wasn't on their mortgage papers, so she obtained a $21,000 loan from their credit
union. Neither of them had ever received a loan this size and under such drastic circumstances.
Nevertheless, as Miriam says, she trusted Phillip, and Phillip seemed to trust Carey.
They all said they trusted Carey—all 18 victims. After the first emails in December,
Sharon, Phillip, Miriam, and 16 others didn't hear from Careysfort until after January 31st,
the proposed deadline. Careysfort emailed their clients several times over the next few months
with excuses and expected delays but always promised that the contracts would be ready soon.
Miriam recalls getting emails with the most tragic stories inside. She didn't know it at the time,
but Carey, the formerly respected pro athlete, was telling her clients flat-out lies. She told
her clients that the contracts were late one week because an employee had a brain hemorrhage. Then,
another employee got injured in a devastating car crash.
Each excuse was more tragic than the previous one. Some clients became frustrated, others became
skeptical, but only one client fully realized what was going on. Though, he found out by sheer luck.
Colin Finnegan His name is Colin Finnegan. Colin gave
Carey $16,000 in deposit money after his parents' shop went under in 2019. He bought the property
for his parents back in 2006, and they turned the building into a post office/shop/living space.
However, when Colin's haulage business crumbled, he couldn't afford to pay the mortgage anymore.
He needed help. That's when, like so many other desperate people, he found Carey.
She offered him the same deal she gave to the others, and Colin accepted it. He waited for his
contract but never saw the papers, only tragic excuses from Careysfort. Colin and his parents
waited 18 months until something finally happened. Though, it wasn't what they were expecting.
Colin was at his parents' shop one day when a man walked in
saying he was interested in their property after seeing it on Bidx1,
a website that hosts online auctions for properties that have defaulted on their loans.
But that was impossible. Carey bought their loan. All they needed to do was sign a new contract with
her. Colin, confused, contacted Carey, who explained that they'd put the property up
for auction a while back, and someone bought it, though Carey insisted her firm made the purchase.
However, the new owners contacted Colin and said that his parents could remain on the
property but would have to pay rent. Colin knew Carey scammed him. He decided to let it
go until he received an unexpected message from Carey. The firm accidentally sent out
the contact info for all their clients in a group message.
Colin and the other 17 victims now had each other's contact information. He, along with
Sharon, Phillip, and Miriam, joined a WhatsApp group created by another victim, Andrew Hickey.
The 18 The 18 victims
shared their unique but very similar stories about meeting Carey and acquiring her services.
Eventually, their mutual experiences turned into an investigation into Careysfort Asset Estates.
RTE got their information from the 18 victims and shared it with local authorities. The police,
in turn, arrested Carey for fraud. The group chat was ecstatic. But,
in later interviews, they reveal the long-term effects of Carey's scam.
Miriam told RTE that her depression only got worse since Carey entered her life. Like so many others,
Miriam and Phillip still had their mortgage to pay, plus the $26,000 Carey stole from them.
Others paid even loftier deposits. One couple handed Carey nearly $38,000.
The victims assumed that Carey would be in jail by now for her crimes.
Some estimates put her mortgage scam in the mid-six figures, but taking Carey down
is much more complicated than anyone anticipated.
“Trust” Manager Some theorize that
Carey is receiving help from an associate of hers:
Charles Allen, the Rodolphus Allen Family Trust manager. The trust has been under scrutiny over
the past few years, with critics accusing Allen of exploiting people with distressed mortgages.
Carey's name was attached to that same fund in 2013. Their association came up again in March
of 2022. An associate of Charles was photographed picking up Carey from a mysterious home she was
staying at, leading many to theorize that Charles is financially supporting Carey.
If that's the case, Carey now has an alleged billionaire in her corner,
and we all know how often they get convicted.
Thanks to Charles, Carey has been attending field hockey club activities, like practices,
scrimmages, and matches, as she awaits her fate in an Irish court, which isn't looking good.
Investigators are still getting complaints against Carey and her firm.
As of April 2022, there are over 30 such complaints filed by the local police.
That's a number even Charles Allen might have trouble beating.
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And let us know in the comment section whether or not YOU think
that the barrister at the court was in on the scam!