Documentary series reveals Michael Lynn's wife withdrawing cash from bank accounts by Bulgarian business associate of his, during trial
Small individual Irish investors tell of their suffering:
Paul Ryan Retired Teacher: You'd wake up at night and suddenly it would hit you that you had lost this money for your family
Sean O'Mahony Publican: A walking conman, that's the way I would describe Michael Lynn
Watch here
One of the loose ends that still exists with the Michael Lynn story is the question of what happened with the money. Virtually none of which has been recovered. When solicitor Michael Lynn fled Ireland in December 2007, he'd clocked up 80m in loans from high street banks, much of them fraudulently secured via multiple mortgages. And he owed another 12m to private investors who had paid out for unbuilt apartments abroad.
A new two-part documentary series beginning on RT One and RT Player tonight, highlights new links involving a Bulgarian business associate of Michael Lynn's setting up companies in Ireland relating to property development, and those company accounts being accessed by Mr Lynn's wife, Brid Murphy withdrawing cash in the last year.
Michael Lynn: The Fugitive reveals the true story of an epic hunt to bring one of Ireland's most notorious fugitives to justice told directly by the reporter who tracked him down, his victims, and former employees. The two-part series is directed by Trevor Birney and produced by Fine Point Films for RT .
Irish Mail on Sunday Journalist Michael O'Farrell and photographer Sean Dwyer ended up hunting Michael Lynn down all over the world, from Portugal to Bulgaria to a hellhole prison in Brazil. Michael Lynn was facing serious questions about his fraudulent actions in Ireland when he fled to Portugal. They spotted someone tearing up documents and leaving them outside Lynn's offices in Portugal one night. When they got them back to the hotel and pieced them together, it was a treasure trove of information on Lynn. They had discovered a cache of discarded documents in Portugal which led them deeper into Lynn's labyrinth of lies.
Sean Dwyer: You couldn't have asked for a better map of how Lynn had stitched together his business over the previous 12 months and how he was planning to roll it out over the next several years.
Michael O'Farrell: I could see bank transfers and cheques being signed, 20,000 going here. I could see handwritten documents detailing 3million and 4 million worth of transfers from his client account into strange places.
The documents explained that Vantea was his new company with a new shareholding structure owned by anonymous companies in strange parts of the world that you couldn't trace. Everywhere he went, his assets were disappearing into this secret void.
The documents uncovered by Journalist Michael O'Farrell back 17 years ago are still relevant to what's happening today.
One of the names in those documents was a Bulgarian man Yavor Poptoshev. Journalist Michael O'Farrell has seen that name pop up in Slovakia on company documents with Brid Murphy (wife of Micheal Lynn), in the Seychelles, and more recently, and intriguingly, in Ireland. It was a name that only began to be connected during the trial when it was realised that Michael Lynn had moved house and the new house, according to the land registry documents, had been bought by a company associated with Mr. Poptoshev in Ireland.
When Michael O'Farrell investigated Mr. Poptoshev a little bit deeper, he learnt he has set up various other companies in Ireland, which are engaging in property developments. They appeared to be back in business. During Michael Lynn's second trial, his wife Brid Murphy was accessing those company accounts via ATM machines while he was on legal Aid. All of that is still the focus of a Garda money laundering investigation.
One year ago this week, Mr. Poptoshev was arrested during dawn raids on his house and Michael Lynn's house. Michael O'Farrell tells the RT documentary: Weeks after Michael Lynn is in prison in Ireland, we're still standing on a hillside in Brittas County Wicklow at dawn watching the guards raid his wife's house. So in some ways, it's like a story that doesn't want to die. But that's because the life of the story is what happened to the money?
Viewers will hear for the first time the recording of Michael Lynn admitting : I was on my own personal drugged up ambition, fuelled by the desire to succeed. I was the Celtic Cub. It's still the only time that we can hear Michael Lynn's voice in public, because the interview he agreed to do that day is the only interview he's ever given publicly.
16 years after he failed to show up to a special High Court hearing to be questioned about his property dealings, the former solicitor, Michael Lynn, was imprisoned in December 2023 after being convicted of stealing almost 18 million from financial institutions.
Journalist Michael O'Farrell: When Michael Lynn ran, the trail of destruction he left in his wake started to emerge pretty quickly. It was obvious that the banks had a problem, but what wasn't immediately clear was that he'd also taken millions from hundreds of ordinary people.
Paul Ryan a retired PE Teacher from Dublin paid a deposit to buy an apartment in Portugal: Michael Lynn stole roughly 60,000 from me. I didn't discuss it with my family or my daughters because I felt a terrible sense of guilt that I had lost all this money. The apartment the dream was retirement. Our family could come and visit or we can all meet. That was a dream.
What you call the legal system in the state didn't seem to have any interest in what the small person had lost in this particular aspect. It was all about banks
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
IPC Expands Brazilian Presence with New Channel Partner CCATech
Industry veterans Carlos Abrah o and Bruno Lopes strengthen local support and expand IPCs prese...
20/08/2026
Zixi Enters Mauritius Market Through Strategic Deployment with MTC Jockey Club
Worlds Oldest Horse Racing Club in the Southern Hemisphere Selects Zixis Softwar...
20/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research assistant professor Tiantian Liu has received a five-year NIAID DP2 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di...
20/08/2026
Audiences reveal appetite for multicultural Australia on-screen 20 August 2026
Dr Georgie McClean, Dr Rebecca Huntley (L-R)
By Dr Georgie McClean and Dr Rebec...
20/08/2026
How Mavis Studio Is Expanding Live Production Teaching at Sussex
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image displays a student about to mix be...
20/08/2026
Vertical Unscripted Series Legal Queens Captured with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Reality TV veteran Eric Gardner create...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
Documentary series reveals Michael Lynn's wife withdrawing cash from bank accounts by Bulgarian business associate of his, during trial
