Fraud charges

NOV 26, 2009
The Journal Newcastle
BRITAIN TODAY: COURT 
 
A businessman whose firm helped look for Madeleine McCann and who is wanted in the US for an alleged £1.2m fraud, appeared in court yesterday. Kevin Halligen, 48, faced City of Westminster magistrates after he was arrested on an extradition warrant in Oxford. The US Department of Justice issued an indictment for Halligen, from Surrey, earlier this month alleging that he tried to defraud a London law firm of 2.1m US dollars (£1.3m).

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann

Madeleine businessman faces court

November 26, 2009
Press Association

A businessman whose firm helped look for Madeleine McCann and who is wanted in the US for an alleged £1.2 million fraud has appeared in court.  Kevin Halligen, 48, faced City of Westminster magistrates after he was arrested on an extradition warrant in Oxford.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann

Businessman hired to look for Madeleine denied bail

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

Arrest Tues Nov 24, 2009

• 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

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, BBC, Madeleine McCann

Maddie rat tried to sue fund for £150k

26 Nov 2009
The Sun 
Antonella Lazzeri & Tom Wells

Maddie McCann "fraudster" Kevin Halligen tried to SUE the Find Madeleine fund for £150,000, The Sun can reveal today. Conniving Halligen was sacked by the charity - which had already paid him £300,000 - after bosses began to suspect he was a conman. But he then had the nerve to threaten to sue for half as much money again, claiming he was still owed it as part of a three-phase contract.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Antonella Lazzeri, Brian Kennedy, Clarence Mitchell, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann

Student journalist leads police to Madeleine McCann FBI fraud suspect hiding in Oxford hotel

Nov 26 2009
Liverpool Daily Post
Luke Traynor
This is the Oxford University graduate who helped to snare a high-profile on-the-run alleged fraudster.

Businessman Kevin Halligen was arrested at the city’s Old Bank Hotel on Tuesday, following several months evading police. The 48-year-old was hired by Liverpool-born Kate McCann and her husband, Gerry, to find their three-year-old daughter, Maddie, who disappeared from a flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007. But, after £500,000 was pocketed by him from the Find Madeleine Fund, his contract was cancelled after he had delivered precious little to the investigation.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann

Madeleine 'detective' fraud case

26 November 2009
The Daily Express

A man whose firm helped look for Madeleine McCann was in court yesterday accused of an attempted £1.2million fraud. Kevin Halligen, 48, from Surrey, is the subject of an extradition warrant by US authorities who claim he conned the money from a London law firm claiming it would free executives arrested in the Ivory Coast. City of Westminster magistrates refused bail. Halligen's firm, Oakley International, was last year paid £300,000 by Kate and Gerry McCann's fund to look for Madeleine, who vanished aged three in 2007.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann

Washington 'security consultant' wanted in US on fraud charges refused bail in UK

Nov 25, 2009
The Canadian Press
Jill Lawless

A former security consultant wanted in the U.S. on charges of defrauding a client of more than $2 million was refused bail in a British court Wednesday. Kevin Halligen, 48, was arrested Tuesday after staff at a British hotel recognized him from a newspaper article that said he had gained defense and security contracts by claiming to be a former British secret agent.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann

Police nab accused bilker of Find Madeline

Nov 25, 2009
UPI NewsTrack

British police arrested a man accused by U.S. authorities of defrauding people across the world, including a Madeline McCann fund in Britain, officials said.  British media reported Kevin Halligen of Surrey was arrested Tuesday as he was trying to leave the Old Bank Hotel in Oxford. Halligen, whose Washington firm was hired as a security consultant by Find Madeleine for about $835,000, allegedly took off with more than $500,000, The Times of London reported Wednesday. Madeline McCann was 3 years old when she disappeared in May 2007 while vacationing with her family in Portugal.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann

Oxford hotel arrest man faces extradition hearing

Nov 25, 2009
The Oxford Times
George Gaynor

A businessman arrested at an Oxford hotel over an alleged £1.3m fraud is expected to appear in court tomorrow facing extradition to the US. Kevin Halligen, 48, who ran a firm that helped look for missing girl Madeleine McCann, was arrested at the Old Bank Hotel, in High Street, yesterday. Police went to the hotel after a manager read a newspaper article about the US case and recognised a hotel guest as the wanted man. The US Department of Justice issued an indictment against Irish national Halligen, from Surrey, earlier this month, alleging he tried to defraud a London law firm of £1.3m.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann

Madeleine detective arrested

Nov 25, 2009
The Daily Express

A private detective who worked for the Madeleine McCann fund has been arrested following allegations of an unpaid hotel bill. Kevin Halligen was held last night after staff at the £350-a-night Old Bank Hotel in Oxford called police. The 48-year-old security consultant from Dublin is being held by police and now faces extradition to the United States over an alleged £1.3million fraud.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann