John Gilligan has told the High Court that he always had money but he never got any of it from illegal means or criminal activity.
The 58-year-old said he earned money from the time he was ten years old.
He said he sold bundles of sticks, worked at sea, sold cars, leased trucks, made and sold prison art and collected rubbish.
He also said he was a professional gambler and the more money he put on, the more money he won.
He said he owned horses and his daughter worked in stable yards.
He said he knew how to gamble and he would work as a gambler on his release from prison, which he said would be in 18 months time.
CAB has taken possession of four properties, including an equestrian centre, owned by Gilligan, his wife and two children, because it says they were bought with the proceeds of crime.
He said the Jessbrook Equestrian Estate was bought by his wife, Geraldine, in the late 1980s for £7,000 and that his name was only put on the title deeds because he wanted to get a mortgage.
He also said he paid £75,000 for daughter Tracey's house and that he also bought a house for his son, Darren.
He said he made no money from dealing drugs for which he was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
He said the judges who tried him in the Special Criminal Court were reading too many newspapers, however Mr Justice Kevin Feeney pointed out that his conviction had been upheld in the court of Criminal Appeal.
The case at the High Court has been adjourned until tomorrow when John Gilligan will continue his evidence and his daughter, Tracey, will take the stand.
Geraldine and Darren Gilligan have already given their evidence.
Geraldine Gilligan has already told the court that her husband was a gambler, who won large sums of money over the years and that it never crossed her mind that he might be involved in something illegal.
She said she also earned money by hosting underwear parties and selling sandwiches to pubs.
Darren Gilligan gave evidence that he gave all the money he received from a compensation payout to his father.
He said his father gambled some of the money and that he told him to keep gambling and that maybe he would be able to buy a house out of the winnings. He said he went on to buy a house in Lucan in his and his father's name.
