Sean Quinn, the former richest man in Ireland who once had a personal wealth of $6 billion, filed for voluntary bankruptcy in Belfast last Friday morning (11.11), and he owed 38.5% equity Anglo Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC).
Quinn was once one of the most admired businessmen in Ireland. In the early 1970s, he made his fortune by selling the gravel from his father's farm quarry, and finally turned his Quinn Group into a business empire involving mining, manufacturing, real estate and insurance, with an output value of billions of dollars.
But when the global financial crisis broke out in 2008, all this began to fall apart. In the heyday of Ireland's real estate boom, Quinn bought the shares of Anglo Bank through a high-risk financial instrument called "Contracts for Difference", which enabled him to buy more than 25% of the shares of the bank, most of which came from borrowing. When the Irish property market crashed, Anglo Bank's share price plummeted, and when it was nationalized in 2009, its share price became worthless.
Quinn was unable to repay huge debts, and was forced to hand over his Quinn Group to the bank in April of 20 1 1. The debt owed by the group to Anglo-American banks was as high as185 billion US dollars. At that time, Anglo Bank issued a brief statement, saying that it enjoyed "the huge creditor's rights of Sean Quinn and his family, which they could not repay. The guarantee for the family to borrow money from the bank is the shares of the Quinn Group they hold. "
Although Quinn's personal bankruptcy announcement was accompanied by "great sadness and regret", he also admitted that it was his only choice. In a statement released last Friday morning, Quinn said: "Quinn Group was established by a loyal team, and I spent my whole life with him. After Anglo Bank took over the company, I was unable to repay my debts, and I found I had no choice. " Quinn also admitted that he was responsible for the current situation, saying that "I can't escape naturally."
However, Quinn believes that "most of these debts are highly controversial." The Queen's family has filed a lawsuit against Anglo Bank, accusing the bank of many crimes, such as "dereliction of duty" and "causing economic losses due to intentional or negligence". What's more, Quinn said that Anglo Bank and its new owner, the Irish government, "want to use me and my family as scapegoats". He said that Anglo Bank "has always turned a deaf ear to its own wrong behavior in this matter."
Quinn further accused Anglo Bank and the Irish government, saying that they deliberately hollowed out the company after seizing the control of Quinn Group and shirked the responsibility of the company's bankruptcy. "Although there are rumors about making false accounts, the Quinn Group did not close down at that time. Anglo Bank is working overtime with its public relations consultant to arrange another story about how I brought down my company. This is not true. The action taken by Anglo-American Bank when it took over Quinn Group was the chief culprit of this situation. "
The controversy surrounding Quinn's bankruptcy application is not over yet. As a native of Fermana County, Northern Ireland, Quinn claimed that this was the location of his home and business, and filed for bankruptcy in Northern Ireland accordingly. However, IBRC has launched an investigation aimed at "verifying the validity of Quinn's bankruptcy application".
The bank issued a statement on Friday morning, saying that Quinn actually lived in Kawa County, Ireland, and that Quinn's "main business interests and debts occurred in Ireland". The difference is that if Quinn files for bankruptcy in Ireland, he will not be able to start business for 1 1 year. Ireland * * * and the United States stipulate that a person must wait 12 years after bankruptcy to reapply for a loan or engage in commercial activities, while the period in Britain is only 12 months.
Quinn's lawyer Napier &; Wang Yuanyuan of the father and son law firm defended his client and said, "Sean Quinn pays taxes to the British government. He has a British national social security number. For the past 38 years, he has also filed tax returns in Britain. Most importantly, he runs his own business empire in Dreiling. " In other words, the jurisdiction of Quinn's bankruptcy case is on the Northern Ireland side.
At the peak of his wealth, Quinn once ranked 164 in Forbes' list of global billionaires, but now people will think that he is the biggest personal loser in the global financial crisis in 2008.
Ireland's former richest man lost everything in the financial crisis: hundreds of millions of wealth turned into clouds.
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