Message for Darragh MacAnthony

Message to Darragh MacAnthony

Dear Darragh,

In 2006 I left the UK and my friends and family to work for MRI.  Your company.  So proud of it you put your name over the door.  My partner of 6 years resigned from his incredibly secure and well paid job in Education to join me.  We thought we were doing the right thing.  We thought that I would be working for a reputable company.  Although the decision we made to leave the UK was a difficult one, we never for a moment thought we were doing anything risky.  Why would we?  MacAnthony Realty was a reputable company wasn't it?

Fast forward 18 months to October 2008.  I'm homeless, owed a large sum of money, being lied to by the company I work for as to when I'll ever get paid and wondering how on earth I got into this predicament.  I know I'm owed around €150k but I've just been paid €826 for the month.  Eight hundred and twenty six Euros.  Now that really was taking the piss.  It doesn't even cover the rent.

I worked my arse off for you, Darragh.  I was loyal, believed in what I was doing and didn't bullshit.  I sold MRI's own developments above and beyond any others because I believed in you and absolutely thought that they would be 5 star developments.  I unknowingly missold Aspen Golf and Suites apartments that came back on the market as front line apartments as why would I not believe you? A member of my own family bought in Aspen Golf. In your interview with John Stapleton you said that Aspen Golf was "on the golf course",  as did your sister Wendy MacAnthony in the Bulgaria section of your MRI promotional video.

You lied Darragh.  You lied about Aspen Golf.  You lied about paying your staff.  You lied in your video that you'd still be around in 10 years and you lied about doing the best for your customers.  You lied that your company and staff were "like family".  Well, only if you fuck your family over and treat them as shit to be disposed of.  You're a liar Darragh MacAnthony.

Eight months after starting to work for you, I was awarded Outstanding Sales Person of the Year.  When you presented the cheque at the Christmas party with MJ, you said "I can't believe I'm paying €25k to someone I've never heard of."  Why had you not heard of your best sales person? 

And when I resigned your response to MJ was "who is she.  And this is important, why?"

MJ replied " She was our no 1 sales person who got the sales person award last Christmas.  MM recons that she was actually doing a takeaway on us thinking that we are holding back on coms.  She has been read the riot act but there is a slim chance she will be back"

Your reply "Fuck her.  Stupid ungrateful bitch."

"Fuck her.  Stupid ungrateful bitch."  That just about sums you up doesn't it, Darragh.  I resigned because I was owed €150k and I'd just been paid €826.  And you think I should be grateful?  What an arsehole you are.

You weren't even aware of the competition that was running in Bankso that whoever sold the most MRI apartments would win €10k.  I won that too of course.  Not because I suddenly started selling them, but because I always had been.  Because I was loyal to you.  When the other sales staff starting taking backhanders from other developers I didn't join in because I'm loyal to my employers.  I continued selling Aspens.  How stupid was I?

I went to the Christmas party because I was told that I would receive the €10k there and intended to kick up a major fuss if I didn't.  The Sales Person of the Year was a complete surprise.  Thank god for that money I won, otherwise I'd have been paid almost nothing for the 18 months I worked for MRI.

After I resigned and word got out amongst ex employees that I intended taking MRI to court, so many of them contacted me with their stories.  All the same.  The only difference being the amounts you owed to those people and how badly their lives had been damaged by working for you.  Many of them wanted to join me in the court case, but sadly few had kept records or kept in touch with their clients.

And so in the end it was just me vs MRI in court.  A small court room in Marbella with just the judge, my solicitor, interpreter, my court official, MRI's court official and my partner.  That was it.  Your own solicitor didn't even show up.  We were told by the court official that the reason he failed to appear was because he hadn't been paid.  Wow did that make us laugh.  You probably didn't care anyway, did you.  So what if I won?  You knew that all the money had been taken out of MRI anyway.  You're a multi millionaire but you made sure your company had zero money.  Did you even know that the case was coming to court?  I find it hard to imagine that you'd want to lose.

It's nearly 4 years since the judge ruled in my favour.  You owe me money Darragh.  I know it's officially MRI that owes me, but we all know where the MRI money went.  And I'm not giving up.  My beautiful, amazing, innocent gift of a son is turning 1 in a few weeks and the money you owe me is for his future.  I have more reason than ever to keep pursuing this.  And I will.

Another court case is far, far away on the distant horizon, but it's getting closer and this time I'm pretty certain your solicitor will turn up.  In the meantime I'm going to ensure that as many people as possible know the truth about you.  Shut my blog down again if you want.  It will be back.  Again.  And again.  And again.  Plus my very own www.darraghmacanthony.co.uk site is in the pipeline.  Stay tuned for that one, you're going to love it.

What would you have done if you were in my position Darragh?  If you'd been selling timeshare for Club Costa, helped to make the owner a millionaire and then hadn't been paid yourself.  Would you slope off with your tail between your legs.  No, of course you wouldn't.  You'd fight tooth and nail until you'd been paid what was owed to you.   So why on earth do you think I'm going to give up?  Do you think you're some kind of superior being?  It certainly appears that way.

What would you do if one of your children, or sister, or dad, or mum when she was alive worked for a millionaire who then didn't pay them? What would you tell them to do?  Walk away?  No, I don't think so.  We both know what you'd tell them to do.

I used to lead adventure tours Darragh.  I was looking after 18 tourists in Tajikistan when civil war broke out and all the borders closed.  I had to persuade guards to open the border into Uzbekistan for us so that my group could fly home.  In Indonesia our bus was attacked during election riots and I had to keep 16 people calm and get them to safety.  I've been chased by the KGB in Uzbekistan (yes, really) after 2 of my group missed an internal flight and we had to get a taxi through a forbidden to tourist zone.  I've had to write gazov nyet (no gas) in stones on a mountainside in Kazakhstan after discovering that one of our gas canisters for cooking was leaking and we would soon run out.  I had 18 tourists to look after and feed, we were 10 days trek away from the nearest village, way above the tree line so no wood to fuel a fire and our route out was via helicopter which wasn't due to arrive for another 2 days.  I've had to make a life and death decision about whether one of my group was suffering from life threatening altitude sickness or not and whether emergency evac was needed.  I could carry on.  Taking you on is a walk in the park in comparison Darragh.

And I'm not giving up.  I don't care how long it takes.  I have absolutely nothing to lose.

 

When my son grows up I'll be able to tell him that I stood up to the bad guy. I'll be able to teach him that just because somebody is wealthy, don't be afraid to stand up against them for what is right and true.  What lessons are you teaching your children Darragh?  That's it's OK to steal from your staff?  That shafting the people who helped you make your millions is absolutely fine?  Well your children are going to learn the truth about you.  But then maybe you're raising them with the same dubious moral compass that you have yourself and they'll still be proud of their dad because he's told them as long as you believe that you're right, then you are.

I'll be teaching my son that making mistakes is fine and normal and that only by making mistakes can you learn and grow.  However, I'll also be drumming into him that if you make a mistake, you hold your hands up and own up to it.  You never, ever try and bullshit your way out of it and even worse you never lie to yourself about the mistakes you make.  Only strong people are able to be completely honest with themselves, recognise their mistakes and put them right.  I think you're a coward Darragh MacAnthony.

I know that you're never willingly going to pay me what you owe (especially now that I've dared call the mighty Darragh MacAnthony a coward, an arsehole and a liar) so I'll see you in court Darragh.  It won't be soon.  When I do see you in court it will be with certainty that I'm going to win (again) and there's a whole load of records for the forensic accountant to go through.  But that day will come.  And maybe you kids will be old enough to understand exactly what their dad is doing in court.  I hope so.

In the meantime I'll be proud of the fact that I won a court case against MRI and have the inner warmth from the knowledge that I'm going to beat Darragh MacAnthony in court.  And while I'm waiting for that day as many people as possible are going to learn the truth about Darragh MacAnthony.

The woman who helped you make your fortune, Diane

PS It looks like I'm not the only one to not give up or forget Darragh.  Search terms that people have used to find my blog include "macanthony realty fraudster", "mri bansko" and "darragh macanthony court case".