26 November 2009
BBC News
Outline of article:Kevin Halligen
- Irish national businessman
- 48-year-old
- from Surrey
- hired to help look for Madeleine McCann
- hired by Kate and Gerry McCann as a security consultant
- Oakley International initially awarded a £500,000 contract
- paid about £300,000 to help search for Madeleine
- McCanns terminated the arrangement before paying any more fees
- wanted by the FBI on fraud charges related to Trafigura
- arrested at Old Bank Hotel Oxford UK
- arrested over a discrepancy in a bill of about £5,000 police discovered he had already packed his bag to leave
Court Appearance Wed Nov 25, 2009
- appeared at London's City of Westminster Magistrates' Court
- refused bail
- facing extradition to the US
- wanted for an alleged £1.2m fraud
- Court told he had been staying at a series of addresses during the past eight months to evade reporters interested in the McCann case
- Refusing bail, Judge Howard Riddle said: "I note the gravity of the offences alleged and the high value involved. "At this stage, comparatively little is known about his movements, how he came to be in this country and where he has been staying."
- Full extradition request likely to be submitted by the US authorities by end of January 2010
Melanie Cumberland
- acting for the UK government
- told the court Halligen wanted in the US for taking money from Dutch company Trafigura, via a London-based law firm
- said he had been employed after the two executives had been arrested following a petrochemical spill on the Ivory Coast
- said Halligen spent
- £1m ($1.7m) on a mansion
- £85,000 ($141,000) a gift to his girlfriend
- more than £26,000 ($43,000) in cash on other items
US Department of Justice
- issued an indictment for Halligen early Nov 2009
- alleged Halligen tried to defraud a London law firm of £1.2m ($2.1m)
- took the money as part of a deal to secure the release of Dutch business executives arrested in the Ivory Coast
- spent the money on buying a mansion and gifts
Businessman hired to look for Madeleine denied bail
26 November 2009
BBC News
A businessman hired to help look for Madeleine McCann and wanted by the FBI on fraud charges has appeared in court. Kevin Halligen was arrested at an Oxford hotel on Tuesday and refused bail at London's City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday. The 48-year-old from Surrey is facing extradition to the US, where he is wanted for an alleged £1.2m fraud. The Irish national was hired by Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, as a security consultant.
His Washington-based company, Oakley International, was paid about £300,000 to help search for Madeleine, who was nearly four when she vanished from an Algarve holiday flat on 3 May 2007. The firm had initially been awarded a £500,000 contract, but the McCanns terminated the arrangement before paying any more fees.
'Bought mansion'
The US Department of Justice issued an indictment for Mr Halligen earlier this month, alleging he tried to defraud a London law firm of £1.2m ($2.1m). It says he took the money as part of a deal to secure the release of Dutch business executives arrested in the Ivory Coast, but instead spent the money on buying a mansion and gifts.
The magistrates' court heard he had been staying at a series of addresses during the past eight months to evade reporters interested in the McCann case.
Melanie Cumberland, acting for the UK government, told the court Mr Halligen was wanted in the US for taking money from the Dutch company Trafigura, via a London-based law firm. She said he had been employed after the two executives had been arrested following a petrochemical spill on the Ivory Coast. Instead, she said, he had spent £1m ($1.7m) on a mansion, £85,000 ($141,000) on a gift to his girlfriend and more than £26,000 ($43,000) in cash on other items. She said when he had been arrested at the Old Bank Hotel in Oxford over a discrepancy in a bill of about £5,000, police had discovered he had already packed his bag to leave.
Refusing bail, Judge Howard Riddle said: "I note the gravity of the offences alleged and the high value involved. "At this stage, comparatively little is known about his movements, how he came to be in this country and where he has been staying." The court heard a full extradition request was likely to be submitted by the US authorities by the end of January.
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