Quinn family suing State for €4.5BN

The Quinn family are suing the state for €4.5 billion, which they say is compensation for the loss of their business empire.
According to today’s Irish Times, the family delivered a ‘statement of claim’ on the Central Bank, the Minister for Finance and 10 former Anglo Irish Bank directors.
The family is not suing former Anglo chairman Seán FitzPatrick, or former chief executive David Drumm.
The Quinns are alleging that the named parties, their servants and/or agents “conspired to commit illegal and/or unlawful acts through breaches of section 60 of the Companies Act 1963 and the Market Abuse Regulations 2005”.

In a 28-page claim, the family accuses the Central Bank of failing to fulfil its statutory duties to ensure Anglo “acted within the law and did not commit criminal and/or unlawful acts”.
It also accuses the Central Bank of knowing, encouraging and allowing Anglo lend more than €2 billion to the Quinn Group and family entities as “convenient vehicles for the purpose of the artificial support of the Anglo share price”

‘Bad faith’
The family accuses the Central Bank of breaching its obligations as regulator “grossly, wilfully and in bad faith”. They also claim it was “party to deceiving the market for Anglo shares and conspiring with others to so deceive the market”.
All of the claims have already been denied by the directors and it is expected the paper says the claims will be “vogorously” defended.
The Central Bank was, they claim, “concealing the true market value of Anglo”, involved in a “conspiracy” with the Minister for Finance and the former Anglo board that allowed the bank to illegally lend them so much money that the Quinns lost control of an empire worth €4.5 billion in 2007.
“We will robustly be defending our position,” the Central Bank said.
“We received the papers today. We will take whatever action is required,” a spokesman for the Department of Finance said.