Car dealer who is subject to a €4.9m tax judgment charged with alleged PUP fraud

A car dealer who is subject to a €4.9 million tax judgement has been charged together with his wife and brother with multiple counts of alleged Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) fraud.

John Alex Kane (47), his wife Lucy Pinfold (42), both of Cartron, Granard, Co Longford, and Seamus Kane (52), Ardagullion, Edgeworthstown, Co Longford, stand charged with fraudulently obtaining the State's Covid support payment amounting to a combined total of over €9,000.

Alex Kane is currently serving a two-month prison sentence imposed for breaches of court orders in relation to a receiver’s attempts to satisfy a €4.9 million judgment the Revenue secured in 2009 over the non-payment of tax on car sales.

He was brought before Judge Bernadette Owens at Longford District Court on Friday to face eight charges of alleged PUP fraud amounting to €2,653 on dates between March and May 2020.