DOZENS of expats have filed a case against Irish real estate owner Darragh MacAnthony.
The property mogul behind former holiday home giant MacAnthony Realty International (MRI) now faces legal action for ‘theft by swindle and misappropriation of funds.’
It comes after 51 British and Irish victims – who claim they lost more than half a million euros in undelivered furniture five years ago – filed a claim in Madrid.
They accuse MacAnthony, 35, of keeping 600,000 euros which they had paid him from his base in Marbella for furniture packages for homes in Bulgaria, Turkey and Morocco.
Lawyer Antonio Flores of Marbella- based property solicitors Lawbird, also accused MacAnthony of failing in an obligation to file for insolvency for his Spanish companies.
But MacAnthony and his former chief executives Michael Liggan and Dominic Pickering who also face action, have consistently denied any wrongdoing.
In a long response to the allegations posted on his website MacAnthony – who owns Peterborough Football Club – quipped he was ‘as popular as Osama Bin Laden or Gadaffi’ on Google.
He added: “I am fed up with constant unfounded allegations, lawsuits and blackmail.”
MRI’s head office shut in Marbella last year and sources told the Olive Press that MacAnthony – who once had huge billboards up and down the Costa del Sol – was planning to relocate to the US.
Investigators have discovered his company MRI Overseas is now owned by a 90-year-old Peruvian