Blackrock Clinic founder faces disqualification case amid fraud claims
17th March 2022
A liquidator is to seek orders disqualifying a co-founder of the Blackrock Clinic as a company director amid claims of fraud.
The move is being taken in a lawsuit against US-based Dr Joe Sheehan (76) and his wife Norah (73) arising from the liquidation of their firm, Blackrock Medical Partners (BMP).
Liquidator Myles Kirby is investigating the apparent dissipation of €3.35m from the company, at least €2.6m of which was allegedly transferred to connected entities or persons, including relatives of Dr Sheehan.
In an affidavit filed in the High Court, Mr Kirby identified several transactions he believed to be “entirely improper and to constitute a fraud on the company and its creditors”. He said he had not found any commercial legal basis for the payments. Dr Sheehan denies wrongdoing.
The court heard Mr Kirby intends to bring applications for disqualifications under the Companies Act 2014.
Mr Justice Senan Allen gave directions for service of the defendants by registered post to their home near Chicago.
The applications come in the wake of the long-running dispute between Dr Sheehan and Larry Goodman, which saw the retired surgeon’s shares in the hospital group taken over by the beef baron.
In January, Mr Kirby, of Kirby Healy Chartered Accountants, asked a court in Illinois to subpoena directors of BMP over the alleged dissipation of funds. A decision on the application is awaited.
BMP was incorporated in 2000 to develop the Galway Clinic in Doughiska and until 2020 was a 25pc shareholder in Marpole, the private hospital’s operating company.
As part of the battle between Mr Sheehan and Mr Goodman, BMP sued Mr Goodman’s Parma Investments Ltd in 2016, but it lost the case and was subject to orders for costs.
Parma secured a Mareva injunction freezing BMP’s assets in February 2020, citing fears the firm might remove assets. According to Mr Kirby, the costs were never paid and Parma wound up BMP last year. The liquidator said that as part of the winding up, BMP’s directors were ordered to file a statement of affairs within 28 days but failed to do so.
He claims his investigation found BMP received €3.25m from the sale of its shares in Marpole in January 2020 but the proceeds were dissipated by the time the Mareva injunction was granted.
In an affidavit, Dr Sheehan said there was neither illegality nor irregularity in the disbursement of the funds and it was entirely wrong to imply wrongdoing by him. He said he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of the funds now.