[caption id="attachment_69224" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="David Drumm."]
Former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive, David Drumm, has failed in a Boston court to get a bankruptcy discharge, a ruling that would have allowed him to walk away from debts and get a fresh financial and business start.
Lawyers representing the disgraced banker attempted to have a case blocking his bankruptcy thrown out on a technicality. However, a Boston judge ruled that the case could proceed, with a full trial now likely to take place in the summer, the Irish Independent reported.
Drumm, who has been living with his family in Massachusetts since quitting the failed Anglo Irish in December 2008, owes creditors more than €10.2 million, the report stated.
Drumm filed for bankruptcy in 2010 after claiming he was unable to repay €8.5 million in loans he took from his former employers.
However, efforts to get bankruptcy protection have not run smoothly, with the court official overseeing his case refusing to allow him to be discharged as a bankrupt.
The official, trustee Kathleen Dwyer, filed a lawsuit against Drumm to prevent his discharge, accusing him of being deceitful and fraudulently failing to disclose details of cash and property assets.
Drumm's legal team, in turn, tried to have Dwyer's case thrown out of court on Thursday of last week, claiming she had missed a deadline to file documents on the case by 51 minutes.
However, at a hearing, Judge Frank Bailey rejected this argument.
Anglo Irish Bank, now known as the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, has a similar lawsuit against Drumm. Its lawyers, according to the Independent report, have claimed that Drumm transferred large sums of money to his wife, Lorraine. This has been denied by the Drumms.
Added the report: "Gardai are continuing to seek Mr. Drumm's assistance in relation to inquiries into huge irregularities during his tenure at the bank. However, he has refused to return home for questioning.
"Ms. Dwyer has forced Mr. Drumm to sell a €2.8 million home on Cape Cod to help clear some of his debts. She also recently hired a real estate firm to sell the Drumms' €2 Million Malahide (Dublin) home.
"Moves are being made to sell the property where Mr. Drumm now lives, a €1.5 million house in the upmarket Boston suburb of Wellesley.
"What happens to the proceeds from this sale is likely to be decided in the courts as Mrs. Drumm claims she is entitled to half of any potential amount."
Drumm quit Ireland for Boston in June 2009 after the full extent of the Anglo Irish Bank debacle began to make headlines.
