THE French crook who swindled millions of euro out of gullible Donegal investors has had €4.65M seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau.
Francois de Dietrich, who ran his scam from Ballybofey offices, has already had more than €20M seized in the North.
The money seized by CAB was uncovered in 11 bank accounts in the State, Belgium, Estonia and Luxembourg following a year-long investigation by the them, the garda fraud bureau and international authorities.
Donegal people will now be paid back some of their investment on a pro-rata basis when PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was appointed liquidator on both sides of the Border to Etic Solutions Ltd, owned by Mr De Dietrich, has completed its inquiries.
The probe, which also involved the PSNI, the Financial Services Authority in the UK and police forces in Estonia, Belgium and Luxembourg, identified 400 investors in Etic Solutions.
Inquiries established that many of the investors were still awaiting a return.
The Ballybofey company was put in liquidation and Mr De Dietrich left Donegal. He is hiding in France.
Despite the latest revelations, roly-poly crook Francois says he’s innocent.
