Former solicitor and property developer Michael Lynn has been granted legal aid to appeal his conviction and sentence for stealing over €18 million from numerous financial institutions, after telling a court that he “has no means”.
A senior judge said however that the State can bring the matter back to the Court of Appeal should new information come to light that means legal aid “would no longer be appropriate”.
Lynn, 55, and formerly of Millbrook Court, Redcross, Co Wicklow, was found guilty by a jury of 10 of the 21 theft counts against him following a second Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial last year after the jury in his first trial in 2022 failed to reach a verdict.
At the Court of Appeal today, Court President Mr Justice George Birmingham agreed to grant legal aid on the same terms as provided in the trial court. Lynn intends to appeal both his conviction and his sentence.
The matter had previously been adjourned after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said they were seeking a statement of means from Lynn.
In court today, a barrister for the State said the former solicitor had completed a statement outlining that “he had no means”. He said after the completed statement had been received, the matter had been put back to allow for further enquiries to be made.
After the barrister confirmed that a further adjournment would not be necessary, Mr Justice Birmingham said he would provide for legal aid in the same terms as in the trial court but added that if information comes to the attention of the DPP in the future “that means legal aid would no longer be appropriate then she is at liberty to bring it back before me”.
Lynn, who was found guilty of stealing just over €18 million from six financial institutions during the Celtic Tiger era, is currently serving a five-and-a-half year prison sentence.
After legal aid was granted, a barrister for Lynn asked that the case be included in the next list to fix dates.
Mr Justice Birmingham said the matter could not be put into a list to fix dates until submissions have been lodged.
The barrister said one of the grounds in the sentence appeal related to the way in which the sentence was constructed and issues around the release date. Mr Justice Birmingham said there was nothing to stop lawyers lodging limited submissions based on that issue.
“That’s the way to do it, you can put in initial submissions addressed to question of sentence,” he said.
Lynn had pleaded not guilty to 21 counts of theft in Dublin between 23 October 2006 and 20 April 2007, when he was working as a solicitor and property developer. He has no previous convictions and has been in custody since he was convicted of the 10 counts just before Christmas last year.
The court heard Lynn obtained multiple mortgages on the same properties in a situation where banks were unaware that other institutions were also providing finance. These properties included ‘Glenlion’, Lynn’s €5.5 million home in Howth, and multiple investment properties.
The financial institutions Lynn was found guilty of stealing from were National Irish Bank, Irish Life and Permanent, Ulster Bank, ACC Bank, Bank of Scotland Ireland and Irish Nationwide Building Society.
Lynn took the stand and told his trial that the banks were aware he had multiple loans on the same properties and that this was custom and practice among bankers in Celtic Tiger Ireland.
He was extradited from Brazil in 2018 after spending four-and-a-half years in a “hellhole” prison there. In the first trial, Lynn told the jury the jail was essentially run by prisoners and he witnessed the beheading of a young gay prisoner.
