money laundering 'Idiotic' graduate who allowed scammers to store money in his account avoids jail

An international relations graduate let fraudsters use his bank account to "store" the proceeds of Revenue and payroll scams, a court heard.

Daniel Horvath's account was used to launder money after Revenue was tricked into making an income take refund, and a company defrauded into changing payment details for an employee.

A judge gave him the benefit of the Probation Act after hearing Horvath had no previous convictions and made an "idiotic decision" to get involved after being promised around €200.

Horvath (22), of Gateway Student Village, Ballymun, pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to money laundering.

Garda Sergeant Gail Smith told Judge Maire Conneely on September 28, 2018, the Revenue Commissioners made a refund of €1,360 to a bank account.

This followed the submission of a P50 claim form for the repayment of income tax by a named man.

However, it was established that this was not his account, the man had never applied for a tax refund and never received any money.

Gardaí established that the money had been paid into Horvath's account.

On April 29, 2019, an email was received by the human resources department of a facilities management company in Blanchardstown, purporting to be from an employee seeking to change his bank details for payment.

This was fraudulent and a sum of €2,772 was paid into the accused's account and withdrawn. 

Horvath was at the lower end of the ladder in relation to his involvement after he was approached by individuals and made an idiotic decision, his solicitor Brian Coveney said.

His account was used to store the money by the individuals until they took it out.

Horvath would have got only €100 to €200 for this, and it was the others who benefited most, Mr Coveney said.