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Rags-to-riches businessman Ben Lyons hands over assets worth €110,000 to Criminal Assets Bureau
More than €110,000 has been seized from Ben Lyons, a Dubliner who overcame homelessness to set up a company designing gold iPhones for super rich clients.
They include €53,000 in cash and a white Range Rover Sport worth €60,000, confiscated under proceeds of crime legislation last year.
He became a CAB target after officers searched his property and found diaries with entries that “corroborated” alleged links to Kinahan henchmen Sean McGovern and Liam Byrne.
Lyons came to an agreement with the CAB, effectively relinquishing the assets in the High Court in March.
The action will be news to Lyons’ high-profile customers.
iDesignGold, which he founded in 2017, lists American heiress and reality TV star Paris Hilton, actor Armie Hammer and boxer Anthony Joshua among its “esteemed clientele”.
The list also includes Messi, who this year commissioned 24-carat gold iPhones — reportedly worth £175,000 (€200,000) — and gave them as gifts to the Argentina squad and staff to celebrate winning the World Cup in Qatar last December.
Inspired by Messi’s extravagant generosity, Manchester City captain Kevin De Bruyne bought 26 customised platinum iPhones for team players on the eve of the Premiership season in August. The phones are believed to be worth €5,000 each.
Lyons’ celebrity following has ensured his gold accessorised designs have made international headlines.
His rags-to-riches story featured in Forbes magazine two years ago as part of a series on “underrepresented people making a difference”.
The article reported he had set up his first mobile phone shop following a US trip in 2013. He had to shut down the business, moved to the UK and at one point had to declare himself homeless.
Lyons then came up with the idea for customised iPhones with gold accessories, according to the article. He approached McGregor, who trained with a friend, and Lyons made an iPhone for the MMA star who promoted it on Instagram, triggering a stream of celebrity clients.
Company records show iDesignGold had a €129,281 judgment registered against it in May this year. The last company accounts were filed in 2019. Lyons is also a director of companies registered in Scotland and England.
The Sunday Independent has attempted to contact Lyons without success, through his company website, on social media.
Proceeds of crime actions against him have been confirmed by the CAB. Chief superintendent Michael Gubbins said: “Ben Lyons is a suspected money launderer acting on behalf of the Kinahan organised crime group in laundering the proceeds of crime through a number of his businesses.
“The seizure of a number of diaries from his property corroborated his links with members of the Kinahan OCG with reference made to significant sums of cash laundered on behalf of individuals linked to the Kinahan OCG. These members are believed to be, among others, Liam Byrne and Sean McGovern, all of whom are senior participants in the Byrne-Kinahan OCG.
“The CAB case resulted in a proceeds of crime action over the following assets: €53,000 in cash and a white Range Rover Sport with a UK registration valued at around €60,000.”
Lyons came to an agreement with the CAB and signed a consent disposal order allowing the assets to be transferred to the State.
He is one of at least a dozen people who have been targeted on suspicion of laundering money for the Kinahan gang.
Gardaí are trying to extradite McGovern from Dubai, the Kinahan gang bolthole, on murder and organised crime charges.
Byrne, a previous CAB target, was arrested in June in Majorca and is in custody fighting extradition to the UK. The murder of his brother David at the Regency Hotel in 2016 escalated the murderous Kinahan-Hutch feud.
The Criminal Assets Bureau will hold an online “luxury goods” auction on December 1 to sell off €500,000 worth of seized assets with the proceeds going to the State.
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