Latest news with #DenisOBrien
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
2031 Ryder Cup to be hosted in Girona, Spain, says Catalan golf federation
Barcelona, Spain (AP) — The 2031 Ryder Cup will be held in northeastern Spain, the president of the Catalan golf federation has told The Associated Press. Ramon Nogué, president of the Catalan golf federation, told the AP by phone Friday that 'next week it will be official' that Girona will be announced as the host of the golfing event between the best male players of Europe and the United States. The choice of Girona's Camiral Golf course was first reported by Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia. 'Any announcement in relation to future editions of the Ryder Cup will be made in due course,' Ryder Cup Europe said. The Camiral resort, which was previously called PGA Catalunya, has hosted European Tour events and the Spanish Open. It has been owned by Irish businessman Denis O'Brien since 2008. Irish media have reported that O'Brien has invested tens of millions of euros in upgrades to the courses and the hotel, as well as accommodation on the property. This will be the second time for Spain to host the Cup after Valderrama in 1997, and just the fourth time it will be played in continental Europe after Le Golf National outside Paris in 2018 and Marco Simone outside Rome in 2023. The Ryder Cup is closely tied to Spain because of European team stalwarts Seve Ballesteros, José María Olazábal and Sergio García. This year's Ryder Cup will be held at Bethpage Black in New York in September. The next one staged in Europe is in 2027 at Adare Manor in Ireland. ___ AP Sports Writer Steve Douglas in Portrush, Northern Ireland, contributed to this report. ___ AP golf: Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press
CTV News
3 days ago
- Sport
- CTV News
2031 Ryder Cup to be hosted in Girona, Spain, says Catalan golf federation
The Ryder Cup logo during a captains press conference in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa, file) Barcelona, Spain — The 2031 Ryder Cup will be held in northeastern Spain, the president of the Catalan golf federation has told The Associated Press. Ramon Nogué, president of the Catalan golf federation, told the AP by phone Friday that 'next week it will be official' that Girona will be announced as the host of the golfing event between the best male players of Europe and the United States. The choice of Girona's Camiral Golf course was first reported by Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia. 'Any announcement in relation to future editions of the Ryder Cup will be made in due course,' Ryder Cup Europe said. The Camiral resort, which was previously called PGA Catalunya, has hosted European Tour events and the Spanish Open. It has been owned by Irish businessman Denis O'Brien since 2008. Irish media have reported that O'Brien has invested tens of millions of euros in upgrades to the courses and the hotel, as well as accommodation on the property. This will be the second time for Spain to host the Cup after Valderrama in 1997, and just the fourth time it will be played in continental Europe after Le Golf National outside Paris in 2018 and Marco Simone outside Rome in 2023. The Ryder Cup is closely tied to Spain because of European team stalwarts Seve Ballesteros, José María Olazábal and Sergio García. This year's Ryder Cup will be held at Bethpage Black in New York in September. The next one staged in Europe is in 2027 at Adare Manor in Ireland. ___ Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press AP Sports Writer Steve Douglas in Portrush, Northern Ireland, contributed to this report.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Digicel eyes €2bn refinancing as junk bond yields slide
Digicel , the Caribbean-based telecoms company founded by Denis O'Brien , has hired investment bankers at JP Morgan to help organise a potentially imminent refinancing of $2.3 billion (€2 billion), according to sources. Bloomberg reported in recent days that a refinancing deal could be launched within weeks. A spokeswoman for Digicel, which is based in Jamaica and operates in 25 markets, declined to comment. Fitch Ratings last month awarded Digicel's main financing entity a credit rating of B, the most favourable assessment it has made of the group's creditworthiness in six years, saying it was on track to refinance the borrowings more than a year in advance of their scheduled maturity in May 2027. That credit rating is still considered below investment grade. READ MORE The prospect of Digicel carrying out its first big refinancing since a debt restructuring closed in 2024 has been boosted by the US department of justice confirming to the group in April that it has ended an investigation that was looking into whether the business had breached foreign bribery laws. It has also been helped by interest rates on US high-yield, or junk, bonds falling considerably in recent months. The ICE BofA US High Yield Index for B-rated companies, a benchmark for low-rated companies, has fallen to a little over 7 per cent from 8.7 per cent in early April. While bond and equity markets had wobbled earlier this week as Donald Trump raised the prospect of firing Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, calm returned when the US president clarified he had no such plans. David McWilliams on how 'big incentives' to build could save Dublin city Listen | 36:51 Digicel said in November that it had made a voluntary disclosure to the department of information 'relating to possible violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act' (FCPA). The Digicel disclosure to US authorities is said to relate to activities in Haiti, which has again descended into chaos in recent years as criminal gangs have grown in power. Armed gangs control almost all of the country's capital, Port-au-Prince. The decision by US authorities to close the case was due to a combination of information gleaned during the investigation, as well as a move by Mr Trump in early February to pause FCPA enforcement actions. The debt restructuring that completed in January 2024 meant Mr O'Brien handed over a 90 per cent share in the business to a consortium of bondholders led by PGIM, Contrarian Capital Management, and GoldenTree Asset Management took control of Digicel in January 2024 as they swapped $1.7 billion of its borrowings for a 90 per cent holding. It marked the group's third debt restructuring in five years.
News24
09-07-2025
- News24
Irish sports legend put an iPhone charger up his nose in cancer scam scheme
One of Ireland's biggest sporting legends has stunned the nation by admitting to scamming people out of millions by pretending he had cancer. DJ Carey, a celebrated hurling star, recently pleaded guilty to 10 counts of deception at Dublin's Criminal Courts of Justice for faking illness to solicit money under false pretences. As part of his ruse, the 54-year-old shared an image of himself lying in bed with an iPhone charging cable taped under his nose to mimic a nasal oxygen tube. The court also heard how Carey targeted victims using a series of letter templates. 'Basically they were letters looking for help. He had one [relating to] Revenue, and he would send them to people in business who had issues with Revenue and they would be sympathetic. He had one related to the banks, saying 'the banks were at him' and that was for people who he knew had issues with the banks,' a state witness said. 'Then he had the one about cancer and sympathy. He sent that out to people who he knew either had cancer themselves or were bereaved because of cancer. He was sending them out to everybody.' READ MORE | New recruitment platform aiming to protect job seekers from scams enters the market Carey, who fell into debt in 2011, faked his illness from 2014 to 2022, during which time he even conned Irish billionaire Denis O'Brien into giving him millions. O'Brien was among the 13 complainants involved in the case. Carey's lawyer acknowledged he had lied about having cancer but argued he does suffer from genuine health conditions, including a heart condition that required surgery. Carey will be sentenced on 29 October and could face years in jail if convicted. It's a disgraceful end to a man hailed as a national icon and who has been described as the 'first superstar' of hurling – a stick-and-ball field game of ancient Gaelic origin. In a bizarre twist, his sister Catriona Carey (48) has also faced fraud-related charges. A trained accountant and former international hockey player for Ireland, she appeared in court earlier this year on multiple money laundering charges linked to a financial services firm she operated.
Irish Times
09-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Leslie Buckley and Denis O'Brien try to rewrite history over INM data breach saga
The decision of the Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) not to bring any enforcement action on foot of its six-year long investigation into data breaches and other issues at Independent News and Media (INM) has drawn a predictable response from Denis O'Brien and Leslie Buckley . O'Brien was the largest shareholder in INM – now Mediahuis Ireland – and Buckley was the chairman at the time of the data breaches which were revealed after the company's chief executive Robert Pitt and chief financial officer Ryan Preston made protected disclosures to the CEA's predecessor – the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE). They raised several issues that concerned them about Buckley's stewardship of the media organisation. O'Brien and Buckley have seized on the decision not to prosecute – disclosed in the authority's annual report last week and a year after High Court inspectors appointed to investigate the issues raised by Pitt and Preston found no breach of company law – to wholeheartedly rubbish the CEA and its chief executive Ian Drennan. Buckley said there were 'serious questions' over the way the investigation was conducted by the ODCE including seeking the appointment of High Court inspectors in 2018. He said that the ODCE adopted 'a highly questionable approach, to say the least', in not meeting him before seeking the appointment. READ MORE 'The taxpayer could have been saved in excess of €5.6 million and €40 million overall in legal costs,' according to Buckley. [ Enforcement authority's costly INM probe leaves unanswered questions Opens in new window ] O'Brien took a similar line saying: 'Mr Drennan's conduct showed little respect for due process, proper procedures or basic objectivity. As a result, he inflicted and facilitated very significant reputational damage for several individuals over six years.' History tends to be written by the victors and Buckley and O'Brien are both entitled to put their spin on the decision not to prosecute. They would be foolish not to take the opportunity when it presented itself. But some facts are worth remembering, not least that Buckley welcomed the appointment of the High Court inspectors in 2018. 'I welcome the opportunity to vindicate my good name through the inspection process,' said Buckley in a statement at the time. 'I intend to robustly defend myself against each and every allegation. I continue to reserve my position.' It was open to Buckley – who had stepped down as chairman of INM at that stage – to challenge the appointment on the basis of what he now describes as the 'highly questionable' decision not to talk to him first. But he didn't. INM did challenge the appointment robustly saying that it was unnecessary and damaging. They lost. The Judge in the case – Peter Kelly – concluded that Drennan and the ODCE had met six of the 10 criteria necessary for the appointment of an inspector. It was a slam dunk and INM decided not to appeal the decision. [ Leslie Buckley questions way that corporate enforcer investigated INM saga Opens in new window ] O'Brien was not a party to the proceedings, but he, too, could presumably have objected to what he now describes as Drennan's lack of 'due process, proper procedures or basic objectivity'. Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, Buckley may regret his decision not to oppose the appointment but last week's more-in-sorrow-than-anger tone and why-didn't-you-just-come-and-talk-to-me-first spiel doesn't really fly six years later. What does hold up is the report of the two inspectors appointed to the company by the High Court, Seán Gillane SC and Richard Fleck CBE, which upheld Pitt and Preston's version of events and was highly critical of Buckley. They found that he was in breach of his responsibilities as a director, but crucially they concluded his actions were not done to prefer the interests of O'Brien over the other shareholders in the company including businessman Dermot Desmond. They found that Buckley failed to tell the board that Island Capital – O'Brien's personal investment company – had been engaged to advise on the sale of INM's Australian interest and was in line for a €4 million payout. Not disclosing this was 'was inconsistent with his responsibility as a director to disclose material facts', according to the inspectors. The payment was not made in the end. They also found that Buckley should not have involved himself to the extent that he did in the proposed purchase of the radio station Newstalk from O'Brien by INM. That transaction did not go through either. With regard to the extensive external trawls of INM's emails organised by Buckley in 2016 that were the central to the inspectors' investigation, their report concluded; 'It is clear that Mr Buckley's disclosure of confidential information to Mr O'Brien after August 2016 was not in compliance with the company's policies and, in particular, the terms of the memorandum [not to disclose confidential INM information] that he signed,' they said. The report found that O'Brien did not misuse the information provided to him by Buckley. They also concluded Buckley did not break company law. This finding ensured that no criminal proceedings against Buckley were likely to ensue and last week's low-key announcement to that effect by the CEA was inevitable as was the twist put on it by Buckley. It might have been a better idea to keep the head down and take the win.
