David Drumm: Irish banker in US custody before extradition hearing

Mr Drumm ran the bank from 2005 until December 2008

One of the key figures in Ireland’s banking crisis was arrested in Boston, Massachusetts, on Saturday on an extradition warrant.

David Drumm, the former chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank, will remain in custody until a court hearing in Boston tomorrow. The US has a public holiday today.

Mr Drumm, who ran the bank from 2005 until December 2008, a month before it was nationalised, is being pursued by Irish prosecutors over the bank’s collapse at the height of the financial crisis.

Anglo Irish, known as “the bank that broke Ireland”, was bailed out to the tune of €30bn (£22bn) in 2009 before being wound up. It ultimately led to Ireland’s €67bn international bailout in 2010.

Reports earlier this year said Ireland had sent an extradition order to the US authorities, with as many as 30 different alleged offences lined up against Mr Drumm.

In July, an Irish court sentenced three former Anglo Irish employees, including its chief operations officer, to prison for conspiring to hide loans linked to former chairman Sean FitzPatrick from the tax authorities. They were the first bankers to be jailed since the crisis hit.

Since moving to the US after quitting the bank in 2008, Mr Drumm has been embroiled in a controversial bankruptcy process, owing Anglo Irish more than $11m from loans he had been given. His bankruptcy bid was rejected by a Boston court as being “not remotely credible”. It was alleged Mr Drumm transferred money to his wife during the proceedings to protect it from being seized.