A FORMER Army Equitation School corporal has been jailed for three years for laundering millions of euro for drug dealers.

Richard Kearney (36) from Shancastle Drive, Clondalkin, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to having €25,000, the proceeds of crime, at a rented house in Tallaght in May 2022.

Kearney travelled to a past Olympic Games, as a groom for the Irish equestrian team, during his time at the Equitation School.

Struggling financially

He claimed his wages dropped after he had looked for a transfer and he was struggling financially.

Around Christmas 2020, he was approached by criminals and offered a loan, but he found himself “in over his head”, threats were made, and he began laundering drugs money.

On May 6th, 2022, Gardaí searched a flat in Fernwood Lawn in Tallaght where he lived and found €10,455 in cash hidden in a bedframe and another €15,000 in the freezer. His bank statements showed that he had no legitimate way of making this amount of money.

Kearney’s phone also showed he was communicating with known drug dealers about locations, dates and amounts of money.

Between April 2021 and May 2022, Kearney laundered €6.6m and £250,000 sterling.The father of two has no previous convictions.

Judge Martin Nolan accepted that Kearney had family responsibilities and was unlikely to come before the courts again.

He set a headline sentence of six years and reduced it to three years, having taken into account various mitigating factors.

Convictions

The Defence Forces said it was in the process of terminating Kearney’s employment, as per their regulations around convictions.

Kearney has a right to appeal and the Defence Forces said it would therefore be inappropriate to comment further.

It also stated that it “unequivocally condemns any actions by serving personnel that are contrary to military regulations or that do not reflect our values.”