DJ Carey's transatlantic swindling acts revealed as disgraced hurling star faces jail over cancer fraud
Former GAA star DJ Carey has been told to expect a jail sentence after admitting to defrauding friends, family and fans of more than €394,000 by falsely claiming he had cancer
DJ Carey was meticulous in his cancer sting peddling a string of lies to make his victims feel sorry for him, the Sunday Mirror can reveal.
A series of text messages he sent to a prominent businessman and seen by the Irish Sunday Mirror showed his ruthless money grabbing streak.
Luckily the individual concerned didn’t pay him any cash after being tipped off that it was a con.
Carey, 54, and the businessman were introduced by a mutual GAA friend on a golf trip and he asks him not to say anything about their private conversation to the friend.
The disgraced hurling legend informed him in one text message he was trying to get back to Seattle for a transplant and to keep it between themselves.
The conman told how he asked five people in his home county for help and they couldn’t assist him.
He also asked them to keep it quiet but all of a sudden it got out there he was asking for money and he had to let it go.
In one message he claimed he had missed three transplants and was a bit down over it but he’d have to wait until he had the funds for the life saving operation to go ahead.
Carey claimed in another message the cost of the treatment was €60,000 in total and that he had €35,000 already sent and was due to travel the following Saturday.
He said he was normally covered by the elite sports insurance in the US but not this time.
A few weeks later the player texted the same person again and claimed he was on pain management but doing OK.
The businessman concerned had a number of friends who were hit by the star for large amounts of money, some of them later contacted the gardai.
They advised him not to give Carey a penny so he didn’t.
One source said: "He had a very lucky escape because DJ Carey was looking for 30 to 40 grand.”
We have also learned that a number of people within the GAA community in New York also gave him cash.
The Kilkenny All-Star was a regular visitor to the Big Apple and had extensive contacts there.
One source in the New York GAA community said a lot of people here helped him out and never saw their money again.
They gave donations towards his so-called treatment and only discovered he was conning them when the gardai opened their criminal investigation.
He said: “The GAA community in New York is famous for its charitable work and helping out Irish people in difficulty.
“My understanding is DJ picked up plenty of money in America and used it to pay for his lavish holidays over here.”
Carey claimed he was suffering from multi-myeloma – cancer of the blood.
Another businessman who gave him a new car for free thought he was out in Seattle having treatment but discovered from one of the player’s best friends he was holidaying in Mauritius.
He took the vehicle off Carey on his return. It is understood the cancer fraud had been going on for up to eight years.
Many people with multi-myeloma die within a year. We have learned he telephoned one well known former county player and asked him for €15,000 to help pay for so-called cancer treatment he was having in America.
The sports star even named the hospital where he was supposed to have treatment.
However, the county player became suspicious and telephoned another GAA household name for advice.
He was then informed to keep his money that it was all a lie and that many other GAA people had been stung by the same false sob story.
He took €5,000 off a GAA team kit man and also tried to hit an elderly couple in the Limerick area .
When they telephoned someone who knows him to see how sick he really was. He advised them to keep their cash.
Another victim said: “He had been a friend for years but he no more has cancer than the man on the moon.
“He is a complete and utter Walter Mitty and the whole thing is one big scam.
“You really could not make any of this up. He has really conned decent, ordinary people.”
Another GAA insider who turned him down said: “The whole thing was a complete and utter lie.
“He never had cancer. He was swimming in the depths of depravity and desperate to get his hands on money.”
Carey has been told by a judge to expect a custodial sentence, after defrauding friends, family and fans of more than €394,000 to treat a cancer he never had.
He was remanded in custody on Friday after a sentencing hearing at Dublin Criminal Courts of Justice and will return to court to hear his sentence tomorrow.
He pleaded guilty in July to 10 counts of inducing people to give him money after fraudulently claiming to have cancer.
Prosecuting counsel Dominic McGinn told the court he carried out a “series of deceptions” as he outlined the details of each count against Carey. The court heard how gardai were first alerted to Carey’s crimes by a financial institution, when one of their customers who was “getting on in years” tried to transfer money to him.
Among those he defrauded was billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien who gave him €125,182 and $13,000, none of which has been repaid.
He also provided use of a house and a car for a period of time.
The court heard they first met on a golf trip to South Africa in 1997 and often played together when Carey was living on the Mount Juliet Estate, where Mr O’Brien also had a house.
Carey had told him he owed AIB “a substantial amount of money”, and asked for help with cancer treatment.
When Mr O’Brien’s accountant, Ann Foley, asked for a medical letter, he provided two, which appeared to be from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Centre in Seattle.
When gardai contacted the centre they said they had no record of him ever being treated there.
In a victim impact statement read to the court Mr O’Brien said: “To my embarrassment I was completely duped by DJ Carey.”
In mitigation, defence counsel Colman Cody said Carey’s guilty plea prevented a “lengthy and complex” trial taking place.
He also said Carey had suffered a “stunning fall from grace” and was now “something of a pariah”.
Judge Martin Nolan said all of the injured parties should be “complimented”, adding “they may feel foolish” but were “genuinely good people who responded to Carey “in a very generous way in his hour of need”.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.