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CLAIMS MADE BY a US businessman that he has no involvement in the running of an international protection centre in Co Tipperary are “untrue”, the High Court has heard.
The claims are centred around the company Utmasta, an Ireland-registered, Spanish-based business which was formed last year. It has had a State contract for housing people at Dundrum House Hotel since November 2024.
In a complex series of hearings yesterday at the High Court in Dublin, the saga around Dundrum House, the “jewel asset” of the west Tipperary resort, was laid out.
The cases cover a liquidation and disputes between multiple entities, all tied back to former Morgan Stanley broker Jeffrey Leo. The court heard how relations with his business partners have broken down with some of those parties seeking tens of millions of euro from Leo.
In August last year, the hotel came to national attention when it was provided to the International Protection Accommodation Services (Ipas) for temporary use to shelter people seeking asylum.
The hotel hit the headlines again last week after the operator of the site’s golf course and leisure facilities – Brogan Capital Ventures – announced it was closing with immediate effect. This resulted in 48 people being laid off. Recently, those employees worked on parts of the 220-acre resort kept separate to the former holiday homes (which have been converted to Ipas accommodation).
Leo, who resides at Tullamaine Castle in Tipperary, bought Dundrum House a decade ago and began using it to house Ukrainian refugees and people seeking asylum following the outbreak of the Ukraine war.
The move towards extending the use of the hotel as an Ipas accommodation centre was met with major demonstrations in the local area throughout last summer.
Later in the year, a contract was signed between the Department of Integration and Utmasta to rent a section of the property for three years.
Some protesters have remained outside the gates since, wielding signs such as ‘Make Dundrum Great Again’ and ‘No to Ipas’.
A significant portion of yesterday’s hearings centred around the company called Utmasta. The court heard that its contract with the State saw it receive €300,000 monthly for a year’s use as an Ipas centre.
Of the two separate High Court cases that took place yesterday, one was between Jeffrey Leo and his former US business partners Mary and James Wenning.
The Wennings say they are seeking to recoup €60 million provided to Leo over the past decade to invest in several hotels as part of an investment in the Irish hospitality trade.
Judge Mark Sanfey put the case back to 18 November. The court heard he will hear from Leo and a former auditor of the Wennings’ company Colm Malone on that date.
The other court case involving Leo is the winding up of Steelworks Investments, another of his subsidiary companies.
Appearing at the second case, allegations were made by counsel for the Wennings, Kelley Smith of firm Arthur Cox, claiming that Leo’s previous stance about whether he had any involvement in Utmasta were “demonstrably untrue”.
Smith alleged that on 24 July last, Leo had signed an affidavit swearing that he no longer had involvement with the State Ipas contract and Utmasta. However, the barrister continued, Leo is also alleged to have been sending emails on the very same day seeking to “reassign” shares in the company to members of his family.
The court heard Leo was a “50% beneficial owner” of Utmasta – but that the company was registered “to a woman in Palma”, referring to the southern Spanish city. None of the individuals named as shareholders were in court to respond to the allegations.
Yesterday’s allegations emerged after a court-appointed liquidator was able to find emails from the server for one of Leo’s companies that is currently being wound up.
Smith, the senior counsel for the Wennings, told the court the cases around Leo demanded urgency as she alleged that “fraud was perpetrated” in respect of the companies.
Judges were told that there was a real concern that a “significant denuding of assets” was taking place at Leo’s subsidiary companies.
Smith said it was critical that liquidators are allowed to continue their work in “trying to unearth where money flows, how money is flowed, what money is flowed and when do they flow” between different companies and individuals.
Liquidator Interpath has been appointed by the court to manage the process for Steelworks Investments.
Caroline McGrath, counsel for Leo, told the court that the businessman did not object to the winding up of Steelworks but did object to the appointment of Interpath’s Andrew O’Leary and Kieran Wallace as liquidators.
McGrath said her client, Leo, contended that they will favour the Wenning family in working through the affairs of various subsidiary companies.
Responding, Judge David Nolan said that he had not made his decision yet but “as things stand”, he believed Leo had “materially misrepresented” his interests in the properties.
The judge added that the businessman had “tried to delay matters at every considerable turn” and that he had shown a “failure to be honest” and “truth-worthy” in the case.
McGrath argued this was not the case and that Leo was supported in his contention by another business partner, Co Monaghan-based property investors Cabriz, which also claimed that it had concerns about the liquidators.
However, counsel for Cabriz Bernard Dunleavey said it would accept a compromise of an additional liquidator being appointed to act on the case.
Judge Nolan said he would deliver a decision on the liquidator for Steelworks on Friday.
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