Fascinating story of notorious Mayo fugitive told in new book

A new book, Fugitive: The Michael Lynn Story, has been published and is now on sale.

Written by journalist Michael O'Farrell, it packs an amazing seventeen-year odyssey into a globe-trotting, breathless thriller that reads like Catch Me If You Can meets The Big Short.

While it feels like fiction, it is all true, and Lynn’s flight was at many people’s expense.

You may think you know the story of Michael Lynn, the errant solicitor and poster boy of the Celtic Tiger. Think again.

Michael Lynn’s path from being the youngest son of a God-fearing Crossmolina farmer to becoming Ireland’s most notorious white-collar crook and fugitive makes for compelling reading.

Now that Lynn is finally behind bars, the full truth of his story can be revealed for the first time.

Fugitive, told by the investigative journalist Michael O'Farrell, who has hunted Lynn from the very beginning, reveals:

• The millions in hidden assets Lynn transferred to offshore locations, putting his empire beyond the reach of the authorities while on the run.

Gardaí currently carrying out a money laundering investigation believe Lynn used these funds to re-enter the property business in Ireland even as he was on trial.

• The secret plans Lynn made to move to Brazil as he systematically defrauded and pilfered millions from unsuspecting banks.

• The brazen corruption Lynn engaged in in Bulgaria where he partnered with dangerous Mafia figureheads to secure planning permits by bribing local officials.

• How Lynn gave power of attorney over his Eastern European affairs to Anthony Cantrell - a paedophile US fugitive pursued by shadowy Russian businessmen before being found dead.

• Details of Lynn’s partnership with a notorious Dutch cocaine smuggler while in prison in Brazil and his association with a German fraudster whose case showed Lynn how he could successfully reduce his Irish prison sentence.

• The desperately sad tale of Lynn’s victims, the real, everyday people whose lives were destroyed because they trusted Lynn with their life savings.

These are people like Kerry publican Sean O’Mahony whose wife, having lost her previous savings, died watching Lynn on the news.

Fugitive offers a unique insight into the tortured mind of a reluctant fugitive brought down by his own insatiable greed.

But it is also a tale of delusion - the epic struggle of one man with an ego so large he thought he could outsmart everyone and beat the system.

Finally, in a world of fake news, this book offers a unique and candid insight into the rarely-seen world of an investigative journalist at work.

Since he was first dispatched to find Lynn in 2007, the author has stuck with the story for more than a decade and half, travelled the world and painstakingly pieced together a remarkable tale born of the madness of Celtic Tiger Ireland.

It is published by Merrion Press.