Business empire decisions were ‘stupid but legal’, says former billionaire Sean Quinn

Former billionaire Sean Quinn was at one stage the richest person in Ireland, before he was declared bankrupt in 2012.

His new memoir, In my Own Words, details the story of the many scandals that accompanied his rise and fall from wealth.

As the founder of the Quinn Group that dealt in a range of industries including cement and concrete products, container glass, general insurance, and real estate, Mr Quinn's net worth in 2008 when he made the Forbes rich list, was more than £3 billion.

The businessman went on to lose the majority of his wealth after investing heavily in the Anglo Irish bank using contracts for difference (CFDs), a type of financial contract that stipulates the buyer must pay the seller the difference between the current value of an asset and its value at contract time.

In an interview on RTEs PrimeTime, Mr Quinn said it was "totally untrue" that he was the architect of his own downfall.

"The position is very clear. I spent around 600 million, 630 million on shares and CFDs which was stupid but totally legal," he said.

He added: "I bet 630 million which was about 15 months profits. Plenty of people lost 15 months profits. That wasn't a major problem. Was I foolish? Yes. I've openly admitted, was I the chief architect of buying Anglo shares? The answer is yes, I was. Perfectly legal and perfectly within our mean."

In 2012, Mr Quinn served a period of time in jail for contempt of court after allegedly engaging in asset-stripping by directing payments away from the Quinn Group before he lost control of the company in 2011.

He said "money wasn't important" to him.

"I've admitted in the book that I was always greedy, but greedy for what? I was never greedy for money. I was greedy for success, whether it's a football match or playing games of cards and playing this, that and the other, or doing something," he said.

He added: "In regards to money, I never had £100,000 in my life. I was the lowest paid director in the Quinn Group. So money wasn't important to me, but success was always important to me."

In 2019, Quinn Industrial Holdings director Kevin Lunney was kidnapped and assaulted, and although three men were arrested for the crime, the judge in the case alluded to a "paymaster" who funded the attack, who has not yet been identified.

Mr Quinn spoke of the night he found out about the attack on Mr Lunney.

"My reaction was, well, that was a barbaric act because I believe it was," he said.

"Regardless of what Kevin Lunney may have done or said, it doesn't really matter. A man going home from work at five or six o'clock in the evening, he's entitled to go home to his wife and family.

"So I just thought it was a barbaric act, and I never changed my view on that."

Mr Quinn also stated that he had not attempted to find out who had orchestrated the attack on Mr Lunney.

"It wouldn't even have crossed my mind. I don't stick my nose into other people's business. Never have, and I think the record around here will tell you that," he said.