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Former Anglo Irish Bank chief Sean FitzPatrick dies aged 73

Former Anglo Irish Bank chief Sean FitzPatrick dies aged 73

Sean FitzPatrick, the former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, the lender that collapsed during the financial crisis, has died aged 73.

A spokesman for Mr FitzPatrick’s family confirmed that he died on Monday from a cardiac arrest.

Mr FitzPatrick oversaw the rise of Anglo Irish Bank from a small Dublin lender into Ireland’s third-largest bank before the financial crisis and property crash brought down the bank.

The bank’s collapse passed losses of almost €30 billion onto the State and contributed to the Government’s need for an international financial bailout.

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Mr FitzPatrick was declared bankrupt in July 2010. A series of criminal trials followed on in the wake of the implosion of Anglo Irish Bank.

He was cleared on all counts by a jury in 2014 of having any involvement in the bank’s extension of loans in 2008 to a group of developers to buy shares in Anglo Irish Bank.

In May 2017, on day 127 of the longest running criminal trial in the history of the State, Judge John Aylmer ordered that Mr FitzPatrick be found not guilty of hiding millions of euro in bank loans from auditors.

Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.

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Mr FitzPatrick is survived by his wife and their three adult children, David, Jonathan and Sara.

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