A couple of recent articles in the Irish press have some details about the ongoing carving up of Steorn.
The first, an article from the Feb 26th issue of the Irish Times, reveals that Steorn’s liquidation is to be handled by David Van Dessel (pictured above) of the accounting firm Deloitte.
Sunday Times article about Steorn liquidation
The second, from the March 5th Sunday Business Post, briefly reviews the familiar Steorn story and lists several amounts of money that Steorn is owed, and that they owe to others, as revealed by a recent statement of affairs of the company. Steorn is owed €296,915 by the Irish government in tax credits intended to stimulate innovative Irish research. On the other side of the balance sheet, Steorn owes €343,869 to various creditors, including €156,933 to staff, and €186,936 to trade creditors including investor Pat Corbett and the Bolton Trust (from whom they rented their office space at Docklands Innovation Park). Steorn has tangible assets (including equipment and inventory) that it values at €40,000, but only expects to recoup some €10,000 for these assets through the liquidation process.
Sunday Business Post article about Steorn’s statement of affairs
One interesting point here is that Steorn only values its tangible assets at €40,000. In a number of videos leading up to the failed launch of their OCube and OPhone, Steorn showed off different parts of their office space and basement workshop. There was always quite an array of expensive looking oscilloscopes and other kinds of laboratory equipment scattered about. I would be surprised if the value of all of that equipment, in addition to office equipment and computers, and so on, were only to add up to €40,000. Is it possible that some of Steorn’s assets were plundered for other purposes before the rest was handed over for liquidation? If so, I wouldn’t imagine that Steorn’s creditors would look too kindly on that.
Just a few of Steorn’s tangible assets
Thanks again to Aidan Sullivan for providing both of these articles.
So another two months passes, with no published report from Deloitte, the liquidators, about Steorn’s statement of financial affairs. I’m guessing that this may never be made public, and Steorn and its perpetrators will simply enjoy the rest of their lives basking in the sun on a Spanish beach, all the time laughing at the suckers who apparently thought there was such a thing as free energy. This could be one of the most successful [sic] scientific frauds this century. And where has its mastermind McCarthy disappeared to? Does anybody know, or is he paying off enablers with some of his ill-gained earnings in order to secure his disappearance—never to be seen again?
And where too has the AU$34 million gone exactly? No investor outcry demanding—at the very least—some sort of clarification? I searched the Deloitte, Ireland site, plus the relevant financial news pages for ‘Steorn’ but both returned a zero result. And why have the names of McCarthy’s other partners in crime not been published, and also made to answer to aggrieved shareholders—as aiding and abetting the fraud? Or did they never actually exist, other than in McCarthy’s devious mind?
Radio silence from McCarthy but I imagine he’s still drinking pints and playing poker in Dublin. I doubt he actually cleared millions and millions but I’m sure he did OK.
“And where too has the AU$34 million gone exactly?”
You seem very unclear on this, but the currency they use in Ireland is the Euro. The Australian dollar is only used in Australia, which is just about as far away from Ireland as it is possible to go. Converting the total amount will result in inaccuracies because the money was invested at different times, when different exchange rates prevailed, so your insistence on converting it to Australian dollars is not just bizarre and nonsensical, it’s also wrong. It seems this was explained to you before but some people don’t learn easily, as Steorn demonstrated.
I have no idea what the thrust of your comment about the Australian dollar is all about—other than your apparent pedantry? Your nonsensical claim that my conversion from Euros will allegedly result in “inaccuracies” (although relatively minor of course) is understood by most people with a knowledge of the international money market.
And my “insistence” on converting Euros to AUD is of course for the benefit of our Australian readers. It seems to have struck some raw nerve in your psyche, as you’ve mentioned this before. Maybe you need to get over it?
At any rate, as I wrote my comment you cite, it had not been made at all clear as to precisely where all the investors’ funds had gone, and there’s been no financial statement of affairs released publicly by the liquidators. Rather than your time-wasting puerile attack on me, maybe it would’ve been more productive—for all of us—had you actually done some due diligence of your own in order to possibly address my question.
By converting the entire sum you (a) get it wrong because the rate fluctuates over time and (b) confuse the issue because Steorn is in Ireland, was always in Ireland, and always conducted all its business in Euro. The Australian dollar is not relevant to anything here.
I’ll buy an Orbo, but never for $1,300. $13 maybe. I’d pay up to $10 for the “CEO vs COE” shirt, but it has to be washed.
Where is this David Van Weasel guy located, anybody have his phone number? I guess the employees appear to have stripped the offices of everything of value, hopefully the Orbos haven’t all been chucked into the land fill.
Maybe they fly-tipped that trash onto somebody’s property, it may yet appear on eBay at some point in the future! Hopefully!
There is also some possible news from Hepaheat in the future. Maybe.
First, yes, I would also like to offer my thanks for all the updates. It has been great. Much appreciated.
I met my friend who used to work in Steorn last week. I asked him to come forward and talk. He said he would think about it. So we might have a bit more information there.
I wonder what happened to all those Steorn OCubes that were shown in the Irish Times video. They seemed to have hundreds. As well as the battery packs. I wonder if it is possible to pick up one of those in the liquidation sale. Would be a nice to get one.
Looking at the photo (above) showing some of Steorn’s “tangible assets” I can’t imagine their value of €40,000—more like €400. A water cooler, a few desk lamps, a couple of chairs and a desk, an oscilloscope, and some rolls of bell wire. Hardly indicative of a high-tech company which played the suckers for €20 million-plus! Although I was forgetting several dozen 9V batteries that actually powered Steorn’s toys LOL.
I also love [sic] the claim that Steorn is owed €296,915 by the Irish government— in tax credits intended to stimulate innovative Irish “research”! Do McCarthy and his partners in crime truly think the taxpayers are gonna cough up another quarter mil because Steorn was genuinely researching over-unity energy, rather than milking gullible investors.
Shouldn’t McCarthy and his criminal cohorts be dragged through the courts in an endeavour to recoup some of the investors’ money? What about Irish trade practices legislation or the like, or is there no legal avenue to follow?
There are at least 3 people in this photo and 1 xbox 360 controller.
Thanks for this series of dispatches (across a whole decade now). It’s sad that the saga is ending with a whimper rather than a bang, as I’d always expected we’d finally learn either the depth of self-delusion or the diabolical ingenuity of the true scam. Short of an inside kiss-and-tell it looks likely to be just an odd footnote to sit beside the likes of polywater.
I agree, it seems increasingly unlikely that we’ll ever find out what was really going on. Unfortunate if such an intriguing mystery just fades away without any answers.