Kevin McGeever. Photo: Collins
In January 2013, Kevin McGeever was found disheveled and emaciated on a country road. He told gardaí he had been kidnapped from his home in Galway and held captive in an underground container in complete darkness for eight months. But it was all an elaborate hoax cooked up by McGeever – and it wasn't the first time he'd tried to confuse the people.
In 2016, McGeever pleaded guilty at Galway Circuit Criminal Court to wasting Garda time by making false statements. A Garda told the court he did this to get the creditors off his back, and his lawyer read out an apology on McGeever's behalf, describing his fantasy kidnapping as the 'aberration' of an older man under pressure. McGeever escaped with a two-year suspended sentence.
Conman McGeever was previously accused of double-selling apartments and selling apartments he did not own. His dubious business dealings took place across three continents.
One investor, Kevin Cooke, who signed up to buy eight apartments for which he paid in installments, is suing McGeever for €835,000. Another investor, Jim Byrne, was awarded a €1 million judgment against McGeever after paying him €633,000 to buy four apartments – which he later learned had been sold to someone else.
How did the Mayo-born con artist fool millions of investors around the world? And why did he stage his own kidnapping?
Today in the Indo Daily, Rory Tevlin is joined by Paul Williams, special correspondent at the Irish Independent, who reported on this incredible case at the time and is still baffled by it more than a decade later.