Seán Quinn choked back tears in the witness box at the High Court this afternoon as he described the moment when he lost control of his company.
He was giving evidence in contempt proceedings being taken against him, his son Sean junior and his nephew, Peter Quinn by the former Anglo Irish Bank.
The IBRC alleges the three men breached High Court orders preventing them from interfering with international property assets and wants them jailed for contempt of court.
All three deny the claims.
Mr Quinn began giving evidence just after 3.30pm.
He said the allegations that he had breached court orders were totally untrue and he was never in breach of any injunction.
Mr Quinn gave evidence that on 14 April last year, he and two other Quinn executives travelled to Dublin for a meeting with Anglo.
While they were travelling to Dublin, he said the bank had around 70 or 80 people going to Derrylin to take control of his company in "a very underhand manner".
He said they took control of the company he had run to the best of his ability with honour and integrity.
Mr Quinn then appeared to break down and choked back tears.
He said senior managers were removed from the building and treated like dogs and private papers and documents were removed.
Anglo appointed a share receiver to take control of the Quinn family's stake in the Quinn group on 14 April.
Mr Quinn told the court his nephew Peter had had concerns that Anglo would not reach a consensual deal with the family and wanted to take over the entire business.
However, he said he never felt that way.
He said he always felt common sense would prevail and that the bank would work in the best interests of the taxpayer and the local community.
He said he was trying for years to come up with a deal. It was only at the end of March last year that it became clear to him the bank was not going to do a deal.
Mr Quinn said the final straw was when IBRC Chief Executive Mike Aynsley went on national radio at the end of March and said the ownership of the Quinn group would change.
Mr Quinn said he had been a bit naïve about Anglo. He said he had believed the "Anglo story" from 2004 to 2011.
He said on a date between the 1-6 April 2011 he signed documents presented to him by his nephew, relating to international property assets.
He said most of them were in a foreign language but he said he was not too good with languages.
He said he was very angry and very upset and the main thing was to get the assets out of Anglo's control.
He said once he had been told his nephew had taken proper legal advice in the various jurisdictions where the properties were located, he had no problem accepting Peter Quinn's word about what the documents were.
He will continue his evidence tomorrow.
