A property developer and Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning horse owner, who the High Court heard has debts of about €56 million, has been adjudicated bankrupt by the High Court.
The bankruptcy petition against Conor Clarkson (60), of Cairnfort, Enniskerry Road, Stepaside, Co Dublin, was brought by Gradual Investment Ltd (Gil) over a debt of almost €587,000.
The overall indebtedness of Mr Clarkson, a father of three and owner of the 2005 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Kicking King, was estimated at about €56 million, according to court papers.
In its petition, Gil, of Carrick Brennan Road, Monkstown, said its debt arose from a 2023 High Court settlement agreement involving judgment entered for €565,000 in favour of Gil against Mr Clarkson and two companies, Cudsea Ltd and Bereryscape Ltd. With interest, the sum due was about €586,981.
RM Block
When the sum was not paid on foot of a demand issued in December 2024, Gil pursued a bankruptcy adjudication.
On Monday, on the application of barrister Cónall O’Neill, instructed by solicitor Anna McEvoy, of Dillon Eustace Solicitors, Mr Justice Liam Kennedy made the adjudication.
Mr Clarkson was not in court and his barrister Keith Farry said he was sick. Counsel asked for an adjournment but that was opposed by Mr O’Neill.
Having read the documents and considered the submissions, the judge refused another adjournment and said he would make the adjudication.
In a replying affidavit last month to the petition, Mr Clarkson opposed it on grounds including his claims that the debt was not owed. The €565,000 judgment subject of the High Court 2023 agreement had been stayed until May 2023 to allow for an agreement to sell the Powerscourt Arms but difficulties arose with the sale, including the appointment of a receiver the Bereryscape, owner of the Powerscourt Arms, he said.
The property was sold in late 2024 for €2.15m by the receiver, he said. As a result, he believed the debt was satisfied. A bankruptcy adjudication could terminally affect his current income and ability to earn a livelihood, he also said.
The debt might be resolved in light of other litigation and he had engaged with a personal insolvency practitioner, he said.
In his prescribed financial statement prepared for a possible Personal Insolvency Arrangement (PIA), Mr Clarkson’s total assets were put at €831,855. His total debts were put at some €56.7 million, of which almost €55 million was owed to financial institutions. His total monthly income was put at €12,500 with monthly expenditure, before debt repayment, about €6,773. His family home was valued at some €950,000, an investment property in Dublin 18 was valued at about €600,000 and another investment property in Kerry was given a value of €50,000.
In a reply to Mr Clarkson’s affidavit, Dualta Moore of Gil said no part of the €565,000 sum had been discharged, either from the sale of the Powerscourt Arms, or otherwise. Gil had no role in the receivership or sale of that property; it had involved a receiver appointed by another creditor, and there was no surplus for payment to Gil, he said.
In another affidavit, Ms McEvoy said Mr Clarkson previously applied unsuccessfully for a PIA in 2019 and she referenced media reports to that effect.
In legal submissions, it was argued Mr Clarkson chose to wait until the last possible moment to tactically deploy a PIA so as to frustrate the hearing of the petition. It was also submitted his previous application in 2019 to have a PIA approved collapsed after a revelation he had adduced forged evidence in support of his application.
For reasons including Mr Clarkson’s net liabilities of more than €55 million and Gil met all the requirements for a petition, it was appropriate to adjudicate him bankrupt, it was submitted.
In February 2024, Mr Clarkson was jailed for 15 months after being convicted by a jury at Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court of forging documents for the sale of property, which was being used to pay off his debt to a bank.
