Imagine going from the richest man in the country to bankrupt within four years.
Well, that was the reality for one businessman who was once considered to be the wealthiest person in Ireland.
At the peak of his wealth, Sean Quinn had a net worth of around $6 billion in February 2008 and was even named in Forbes magazine’s 2008 Rich List.
Quinn’s career in business began back in 1967 when he took over his father’s family farm.
However, he wasn’t a keen farmer and while the land didn’t have much agricultural success, it was rich in minerals.
Spotting an opportunity to make bank, Quinn began extracting gravel from the farm before washing it and selling it to builders in the local area.
In 1973, the entrepreneur founded Quinn Group and transformed his small quarry into a huge company that employed over 8,000 people across Europe.
And his savvy business mind didn’t stop him there as Quinn Cement was followed by the setup of Quinn Hotels and later, Quinn Glass.
In 1996, Quinn Financial Services was founded which included Quinn Direct insurance.
Quinn was also a shareholder of Anglo Irish Bank and in July 2008, he increased his family’s stake to 15%.
However, this is where things took a turn as the financial recession hit towards the end of that year, causing a massive blow to the Quinn family’s finances.
It transpired that Quinn had used secret loans to buy shares in the bank and when the Irish government announced that it was taking control of the Anglo Irish Bank, it discovered these hidden loans.
In a statement at the time, Quinn said: “These loans breached insurance regulations and as a result of this the Financial Regulator has sanctioned Quinn Insurance and myself. I accept complete responsibility for this breach of regulation.
“While I accept that I made mistakes, I feel that the levels of fines do not reflect the fact that there was no risk to policyholders or the taxpayer but are a result of the pressures existing in the current environment. However, we will pay the fines and move on.”
Quinn Insurance was handed a €3.25 million ($3.55 million) fine from the Financial Regulator in Ireland and Quinn was personally fined €200,000 ($218,322).
In 2010, Dublin’s High Court ruled that Quinn Insurance would be put into administration.
Following liquidation litigation, Quinn was declared bankrupt in January 2012.
And in November 2012, the former mogul was sentenced to nine weeks in prison for contempt of court after refusing to hand over nearly €3 billion ($3.28 billion) worth of assets to the nationalised bank.
Handing Quinn his sentence, at the time Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne said: “In my view, he has only himself to blame.”
