Shamed socialite Marcus Sweeney claimed he was once offered work with the Secret Service - to infiltrate conspiracists.
The restaurateur – who a High Court judge described as “up to his oxters” in organised crime – has also blamed the media for linking him “with a high level of crime”. The 45-year-old said: “They asked me if I would be interested in having a position like a socialite where you could meet people at airports who were spies or here for conspiracy reasons.
“They wanted me to infiltrate them and monitor their movements around Dublin."
Read more: Shamed socialite Marcus Sweeney still living high life in plush gated house
Explaining why he refused, Sweeney, a former partner of tragic model Katy French who died of a cocaine overdose aged 23 in 2007, added: “I work off my instinct and instinct is what makes them want to learn what we have to do.
“So if you were in a situation where someone is telling you what to do, you would be compromised as such because your instinct is what keeps you alive.”
Last month, Mr Justice Alexander Owens said Sweeney is “up to his oxters” in organised crime when he ruled on an application from the Criminal Assets Bureau seeking to deem Co Meath lands linked to Sweeney’s firm EWM Property Holdings Ltd the proceeds of crime. Taking aim at the media, he bleated: “Now they’ve associated me with a high level of crime – 54 million of crypto currency that they were investigating to headlines in the papers. And now they are saying the Celtic Tiger is back with a new purpose.”
Sweeney also whined about how the media never portray him as a father. He said: “My title in Ireland is playboy, Celtic Tiger, cartel leader. Heroin, coke. All the bad things that you can think about, I’ve got that title. But they forgot one thing, I’m a dad. And a dad is different than what the press in the media portray you as.”
Sweeney suffered a series of failures in the Celtic Tiger years. One of which, his South William Street restaurant, was key to the explosive end of his relationship with French. They split when he walked into his restaurant and found her draped across a table posing for a lingerie shoot.
Another of his restaurants that went under was a Lemongrass franchise in Clontarf, which closed down owing money to suppliers. At the High Court last month, the judge said the bureau made out a “very compelling case” for him to rule there was a “high degree of probability” that the site at Waynestown was acquired by EWM with crime proceeds.
The CAB alleged EWM purchased the land for €102,000 using, in part, cash from unknown sources, another investment company and from an innocent investor.
The judge said that money given by other investors was used for a different purpose meant the property was bought with crime proceeds.
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