Cork-based financial advisor and money lender Ted Cunningham, who was convicted on money laundering charges last month, has been jailed for ten years at the Circuit Criminal Court in Cork.
Cunningham, 60, of Woodbine Lodge, Farran, was found guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court of ten counts of laundering more than £3m from the Northern Bank robbery in Belfast in 2004.
Sentencing him this afternoon, Judge Con Murphy said he had persisted to the end of the trial with a concocted alibi that the money had come from Bulgarians who wanted to buy a gravel pit from him.
Judge Murphy gave Cunningham's 33-year-old son Timothy a suspended three-year jail sentence after he was told that he was a minor player who was being led by his father.
Cunningham's conviction is the most significant development to date in a four-and-a-half year investigation by gardaí codenamed ‘Operation Phoenix', which was set up in the wake of the Northern Bank raid.
In February 2005, gardaí detectives seized £2.3m from a locked cupboard in the basement of Mr Cunningham's home.
During questioning following his arrest, Ted Cunningham told gardaí he knew the money had come from the Belfast raid and that he was laundering it.
However, during his trial he told the jury the money had came from the sale of a sandpit in Co Offaly to a group of Bulgarian businessmen.
Since Cunningham's conviction last month, detectives have begun a review of the evidence gathered during the garda operation.
They insist their investigation remains open and active and are now examining the possibility of further prosecutions.
