Kinahan Associate’s Ball And Chain Admits Money Laundering

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Criminal Courts of Justice

The wife of a senior associate of the Kinahan cartel has admitted transferring €140,000 to a man considered to be the second highest member of the crime organisation.

She, along with her husband and his 36-year-old girlfriend, will be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to money laundering offences.

In January 2017, gardaí found 15 guns and a substantial amount of ammo when they raided an industrial unit in Dublin.

Declan Brady, of Wolstan Abbey, Celbridge, Co Kildare, was arrested. Cash and financial documents were seized during a follow-up search of his home.

€135k in cash was found in his girlfriend’s house, at Lakeland in Naas. It was hidden in a bread bin and stuffed into boxes and laptop bags found in the attic.

His girlfriend, Erika Lukacs, didn’t know about the money in the house but admitted laundering almost €200k through various bank accounts.

Mr Brady’s wife, Deirdre, pleaded guilty to laundering €770k.

She made monthly transfers to a Spanish bank account in the name of another senior member of the Kinahan cartel, called Thomas Kavanagh.

The court also heard the Bradys also picked up the tab for a €66k family wedding at the Druid’s Glen Hotel. All three will be sentenced next month.