It will be next week when we are set to finally get Sean Dunne’s financial statements which he is required to submit to the US bankruptcy court, and because it is the US, these are public documents and will be reported on here; there is much anticipation, though presumably it will be old hat to NAMA, to which Sean has previously provided a statement of affairs.
Meantime, we can bring you exclusive pictures of Sean’s home as set out in his bankruptcy filing – 526 Indian Field Road, Greenwich, CT 06830. Taken yesterday from the chopper – no, there were no speakers blaring out Wagner – and from a height of more than 800 feet so as to comply with local privacy laws, the pictures show an expansive home set in its own grounds in the enclave of Belle Haven in Greenwich Connecticut.
No-one was home yesterday, and indeed it emerged in the High Court in Dublin this week that Ulster Bank has been experiencing what were described as “difficulties” in serving bankruptcy papers seeking to make Sean bankrupt in Ireland. A red sedan was visible in the front forecourt though the property has three garages on one wing. Sean is understood to be still driving the Lexus SUV and Gayle, what NAMA described as a “luxurious” Cherokee.
The house is presently listed for sale by Sotheby’s International with an asking price of USD 8m (€6.2m). It sits on 2.5 acres. Sotheby’s says it has “a double-height great room w/fireplace, gourmet kitchen, formal dining room, family/theatre room, double offices. 8 bedrooms including a master suite w/marble bath, 3 dressing rooms, & balcony. First floor staff quarters. Lower level gym, storage space, laundry area, & bonus room. Pool, hot tub, & pool house w/full bath. Association private beach.” It has 24/7 security (no, not an alarm silly but a man in a sentry box). The property is owned by Alex and Irina Knaster who live in Kensington, west London.
NAMA Wine Lake 
Please do not tell me you spent money on a chopper to take these pictures? There are dozens of pictures of this house publicy available. And the ‘Exclusive” banner, who are you, the new News of the World? Also the Lexus and too old to be luxurious Jeep Grand Cherokee are both my cars, owned by my company. Sean uses a bike or rollerblades. Sheesh, can the “new media” not even get things right? At least the landlord will be pleased with the free publicity. Who needs Sotheby’s to sell a house when you’ve got Nama Wine Lake.
@GK TMI getting a visual,hope he wears a helmet,will these modes of transport be listed as assets-in other words does Sean own them.
Ah sure maybe @nwl has a few ‘unpaid consultants’ too…
@DJ time for the pool cover to come off:)
i would have a word with the landscapers too……….
@ NWLaker,
I’m a bit confused now……perhaps you can help me out here,
First of all you state that this is Mr Sean Dunne’s Connecticut House, and it’s for sale.
O.K. I got that …. but in your last paragraph… you mention that the house is owned by Alex & Irina Knaster.
So are the Knaster’s the new owners…. or are they the original owners?
If Mr Dunne owns the house… and its for sale… how can the house be owned by the Knaster’s?
@Sporthog, the registered owners of the property are the Knasters. Presumably it is being rented.
Thanks for the clarification…. I must admit you had me fooled there for a while!!!! Although it looks like some of the other commentators have taken the bait!!
So it’s not Mr Dunne’s house after all.
The title of the topic…a touch on the misleading side is it not old sport?
O.K. shows over folks……………. nothing to see here…………. move along, move along.
The house, from many sides of the outside, has all the design appeal of an aircraft hanger.
@Sporthog – not so much nothing to see here, as they are renting the property but with what funds, as Mr Dunne is seeking bankruptcy protection,
To state the obvious, I assume that he is using some of the $1 to $10 million that he has declared he owns. Just because he has declared bankruptcy does not mean that he has no assets. As Paddy Kelly said, it just means that his liabilities exceed his assets. A temporary little inconvenience, shortly to be remedied. I would hope.
@WSTT
You do realise that his liabilities, that he will not pay, are somebody’s else’s assets. Whether that is a temporary inconvenience for those people is another question. In so far as the creditors are Irish banks, I will be paying my piece for many years to come.
My humble abode, or my total means, would not come close to being able to rent that aircraft hanger to live in. Not that I would want to rent it.
@ Colonel Hans Landa,
Well I am not privy to Mr Dunnes finances…. however my point above is not about Mr Dunne per say. But in answer to your point above…
Maybe he was given use of the house for free for a few months….. unlikely.
Maybe a patron / friend/ benefactor paid for the rent…. possible but again unlikely.
Maybe Gayle paid the rent out of her own funds, I believe she has reinvented herself in some other profession… most probable.
Where should the Dunne’s live? In a shack perhaps… how big a shack? A shack of how many rooms, what percentage of the rooms leak water when it rains, how many times should the toilet block up, should mosquito screens be allowed on the windows of the abode, or does NAMA consider window screens a luxury? Should the floor have carpet, carpet tiles, or ceramic tiles? Are roses allowed to grow in the garden?
Or perhaps they should be in an apartment, but again how big… what square footage, located how many blocks away from the CBD of the town. What views should the apartment have and should it face the river or southerly aspect?
Now the garden… let us decide if the property should have a garden……and what type of flowers are allowed to grow in the garden.
On this side of the water…. we can continue to agonize over these extremely important things of great national significance of how life should be for those involved in bankruptcy outside of Ireland. Ever watch that film “The Trueman Show”?
Meanwhile others continue to avail of bankruptcy abroad i.e. Mr Ivan Yates being one…. yet no such scrutiny of his living above was undertaken when he moved his domicile to Wales ( I believe it was Wales, open to correction).
But that’s not the point of the title of the article is it?
On reading the article one is of the impression that the house is actually Mr Dunnes, until the very last line is read, when the Knaster’s are mentioned.as owners.
My point is that a touch of “Too much of poetic license” was used in this exclusive. Not that a swine like myself is prone to indulging in a bit of poetry either…. ha ha ha…
@JR, it’s a pity that those who chose the bondholders over the Irish people didn’t recognize that in September 2008. He is paying, to the extent that he is able and US law requires. In Ireland and under Ireland’s draconian laws, unsustainable debt is not a temporary inconvenience, it’s a prison sentence. But once again, that’s the fault of our legislators – not Sean Dunne. It’s also our own fault for accepting such flawed legislation from elected representives with docility.
@WSTT It’s a pity that Sean Dunne didn’t engage his brain before paying €260m for a five-acre site. Surely it occurred to him that there was a risk he might not be able to repay his loans. Maybe he felt that if the bank were prepared to give him the dosh, he was absolved of all responsibility?
Stop trying to offload blame when it’s clear that no one forced his hand. As they’re fond of saying in Connecticut, do the math(s)!
If I owed a fraction of what he owes, I would be living in a modest rental property, not in a Carlow developer’s wet dream. Has the man no shame?
@Ella Hi Ella, We are all different, with different tastes and expectations. When he took the loans, I am sure that he never imagined that the taxpayers would be lumbered with his losses. Any commercial being would expect that they would be able to sit down with their lender and work out a settlement or enter bankruptcy if they could not, with the losses spread between the borrower to the extent that they were able to pay and the idiots who made the loans, because they were culpable also. The citizens of the State are innocent parties and should not be carrying the can.
@WSTT “We are all different, with different tastes…” I accept that but is it not a fundamental tenet in life that ‘we cut our cloth to suit our measure’. Anything else is juvenile and parasitic frankly. Sean Dunne has refused to adapt to his reduced circumstances. It’s a bit Irish really.
@Ella, Hi Ella, You open up a whole new area for discussion. One of perceptions, the ability to get back into business after being wiped out….
Although America is the prime landscape for these issues, let’s take anyone’s situation after bankruptcy, or even if they just want to get started in business.
Let’s even take your Irish context, although I do believe that the concept is international rather than just Irish.
How much easier is it to obtain a loan and support from a bank, if your address is in Ballsbridge rather than Ballymun? How much more credibility do you have promoting your company, if you arrive in a Mercedes rather than a Cortina? How much easier is it to sell your product if you lunch with the buyer at Guilbaud’s rather than McDonald’s. How much easier is it to woo a business opportunity if you are glamorous and well dressed, rather than smelling of BO and wearing dirty clothes?
Perception is all…. or as they used to say in Dublin “bullsh*t baffles brains”
@WSTT Dunne is screwed so if he’s showing up on rollerblades :D
Seriously though, I doubt Mark Zuckerberg relied on a flash car to get funding for Facebook. Sometimes substance counts for more than the stroke. All hat, no cattle is what got us into the mess we’re in. I take your point though – will swing by Ballsbridge Motors on Monday ;)