Michael Lynn associate Yavor Poptoshev fined €500 over withheld phone passwords

Mixed · 2Yavor Poptoshev (50), a Bulgarian friend and business associate of convicted solicitor Michael Lynn, was fined €500 over his refusal to provide passwords to two mobile phones seized during a Garda search of his Dublin apartment. 1 2 Left · 1Armed members of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, acting on warrants, searched the apartment at St Raphaela’s Road, Stillorgan, just after 7am on 9 January 2024 and seized the devices. 1 Left · 1The High Court was told the raid was one of many carried out by gardaí investigating possible money laundering linked to Lynn's frauds, and Poptoshev was a director of some of the Irish property companies under investigation. 1

Left · 1Poptoshev told gardaí he would provide the passwords if his solicitor advised he had to; at Dundrum Garda station, after speaking to a solicitor, he said he was refusing on legal advice. 1 Left · 1He was charged, and the case was delayed by an unsuccessful challenge in the High Court and Supreme Court, where he argued that the 2001 Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act did not empower authorities to compel him to disclose passwords. 1 Left · 1After the Supreme Court ruling, the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau extracted the data without his help, Dún Laoghaire District Court heard on Wednesday, when he pleaded guilty to two charges. 1

Left · 1Judge Conor Fottrell imposed €250 on each charge, with six months to pay, saying Poptoshev had been given two opportunities to provide the passwords under court-issued warrants. 1 Left · 1Brian Coveney, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said an ongoing Garda investigation continued but that "as things stand, there is nothing arising" from the search. 1 Left · 1His barrister, Aoife McCann, said the search "changed everything" for him; he came to Ireland in July 2022 for property development, now lives in Bulgaria managing a sports goods shop, has no previous convictions, and she asked for the Probation Act to be applied. 1

Left · 1Poptoshev has said he knew Lynn for 14 or 15 years, worked with him on projects in several countries and helped with "forensic analysis" of his affairs during Lynn's 2023 trial; he is a former director of the company that bought the Co Wicklow house where Lynn's family lives. 1 Left · 1Lynn was convicted in 2023 of 10 counts of theft totalling €17.9 million and sentenced to 5½ years; he was released earlier this year under the community return scheme. 1