Courts

Man who took part in Trinity hardship scam ‘not the brightest star’

Nathan Roche (28) told gardaí he believed money laundering operation was ‘easy way to get tax back’

The court heard that a staff member of TCD had been involved of the theft of a very large amount of the money. Photograph: Alan Betson / The Irish Times
The court heard that a staff member of TCD had been involved of the theft of a very large amount of the money. Photograph: Alan Betson / The Irish Times
Jessica Magee
Thu Jul 11 2024 - 17:27

A man who took part in a scheme to defraud the Trinity College hardship fund of over half a million euro told gardaí he wasn’t “the brightest star”, a court has heard.

Nathan Roche (28) is one of a number of people who allowed their bank accounts to be used in the money laundering operation, which resulted in the university’s hardship fund being defrauded by €549,135.

Roche, of Montpellier Drive, Arbour Hill, Dublin 7, told gardaí he was asked by someone to give his bank details for a tax back scheme, adding, “I’m not the brightest star. I was told it was an easy way to get tax back.”

He pleaded guilty to possessing €1,550 as the proceeds of crime on a date in June 2021.

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At a sitting on Thursday, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the amount of money laundered by Roche was one of the lowest values of anyone who has come before the courts in relation to this investigation.

In total, 308 electronic payments were made from the student hardship fund to various bank accounts belonging to people who had never attended Trinity College, between January 2020 and September 2021.

The court heard that a staff member of TCD had been involved of the theft of a very large amount of the money.

Det Gda Chris Fitzgerald told Carol Doherty BL, prosecuting, that Nathan Roche was arrested after he was found to have facilitated the movement of €1,550 into his account.

The court heard that when gardaí asked Roche about his level of involvement in the operation, he initially said he had been approached by a someone in a Mr Price shop who spoke about “some kind of taxback scheme”.

When gardaí suggested this was not credible and asked Roche did he not think there was something extremely odd or dodgy about this, he replied: “I didn’t know it was dodgy, if I thought it was dodgy, I wouldn’t have done it.”

Roche also told gardaí at first that he had spent all the €1,550 that came into his account, but then said he had handed over a percentage of the money or €500.

The case will be finalised on July 31st.