Madeleine 'Conman' Charged With Fraud

A businessman whose firm was paid around £300,000 in campaign donations to find Madeleine McCann has been arrested over a separate alleged fraud.

Kevin Halligen, 48, was taken into police custody on Tuesday afternoon following a discrepancy over his bill at the Old Bank Hotel in Oxford.

He is wanted in the United States, where he is accused of conning a London-based law firm out of more than £1.2m.

Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry hired Halligen's firm, Oakley International, last year to look for their daughter who went missing from an Algarve resort in 2007.

The six-month contract saw the company hire other private detectives, set up a hotline and process information, but was not renewed.

A spokesman for the McCann family said: "Our association with Halligen and Oakley International ended well over a year ago.

"Given that an arrest has been made it would be inappropriate for us to comment."

Two weeks ago, the US Department of Justice issued an indictment for the Briton, who is originally from Surrey but works out of Washington.

Halligen is accused of using the law firm's funds for his own benefit, including buying a mansion in Virginia.

It is claimed he had said the money was to help secure the release of two business executives from the Dutch company Trafigura, who were arrested in the Ivory Coast.

A court hearing relating to an extradition matter could take place later today.

By TOM WELLS

Published: Today

A DODGY "detective" on the run accused of swindling the Madeleine McCann fund out of £300,000 was nicked last night - thanks to The Sun.

Kevin Halligen, 50, was led from his bolthole in handcuffs after our investigators staked out a luxury Oxford hotel then tipped off cops.

The fugitive whined to police: "How did you find me?"

Alleged serial fraudster Halligen was just about to fly the coop when police swooped.

Detectives had been hunting him for months.


Handcuffed ... Kevin Halligen – thanks to The Sun BILLY GRIFFITHS




But it was Britain's No1 paper that finally found him.

Our team tipped off police that he and his lover were about to flee after we staked out their bolthole.

Halligen, who touts himself as a private investigator, is accused of cruelly targeting the fund launched to find missing Maddie so he could swindle it out of more than £300,000.

Last night cops who found him and his girlfriend with their bags packed were holding him over his unpaid bill at the plush Old Bank hotel in Oxford.

It was said to run into tens of thousands. But that, and the cash he is accused of taking from the Maddie fund, are the least of his worries.

Fund ... Madeleine



He faces extradition to the US over an even BIGGER alleged con.

The Dubliner is wanted by the FBI for a £1.2MILLION fraud.

Halligen got involved with anguished Kate and Gerry McCann a year after the 2007 disappearance of their daughter - then aged three - on a family holiday in Portugal.

He had set up his own investigation firm Oakley International in Washington and claimed to have worked for MI5 and the CIA.

Crucially he boasted his "contacts" in the US capital could provide hi-tech satellite imagery to help the search.

Luxury hideout ... Old Bank in Oxford



He won a £500,000 contract as the McCanns, both 41-year-old doctors from Rothley, Leics, prayed for clues.

Much of the cash is said to have gone on luxury hotels, chauffeured limos and first-class flights as he lived the high life.

Last night his bill at the Oxford hotel he checked into three months ago - under the alias Richard Stratton - was said to top £14,000 in drinks ALONE.

A source there said: "Halligen had actually packed his bags and was making arrangements to leave in a cab when the cops finally turned up.

"His face turned ghostly white - he got the shock of his life."


Torment ... parents Gerry and Kate



The Sun had watched just minutes earlier as he and his lover casually smoked a cigarette on the hotel terrace before their planned exit.

We previously spotted him in the bar, where he ordered a glass of wine for an elderly guest, barking: "Stick that on my room - it's on me."

Minutes later he whispered to another guest: "Of course, I have to keep a low profile.

"I'm a former member of the secret services so I can't attract attention."

Creditors are chasing him over £3million he is said to owe.

Halligen is said to have even conned an ex-director of the SAS. Major-General John Holmes, a former SAS commander, introduced him to business contacts - now said to be counting the cost.


He claimed: "We were all taken in."

Another alleged victim is Henri Exton - former national head of police undercover operations. He is said to be owed £100,000.

Washington lobbyist Andre Hollis claims to have lost £50,000 and top London lawyer Mark Aspinall is said - along with his company - to be owed £450,000.

Staff at the Oxford hotel told how Halligen loved to regale them with "hush-hush" talk about MI5, MI6 and the CIA.

The source said: "We just thought he was a bit of an eccentric."


Read more:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2745269/Maddie-McCann-fraudster-Kevin-Halligen-is-nicked.html#ixzz0XrmXORFs

When you read the list of the calibre of the people that this man Halligen managed to con, when Halligen came into contact with the McCanns, it must have been like stealing candy from a baby.

These poor parents, they had been battered and framed and smeared and their characters blackened, (and this was just by the Portuguese police), their daughter abducted, the Portuguese police not doing a thing to find her and the British government doing nothing, when they should have already had Scotland Yard involved. Kate and Gerry McCann must have been in a terrible fragile and vulnerable state of mind and this despicable specimen excuse for a human being, Halligen, coldly used their vulnerability and stole money from a missing abducted child, out of all the despicable things he has done in his life, this must rate as one of the most despicable. Halligen is right there alongside Goncalo Amaral, for lies and deceptions, perhaps they can share a cell together at some point?

It was I think Mr Kennedy that hired this man and his firm. As we can see from the list of who he conned, then it is clear how Kennedy was also taken in. He probably even had references from some of these high calibre clients, who had yet to learn just what a con man he was.

Thankfully Kennedy smelled a rat. It is just such a pity that so much was taken from the Fund.

Imagine how good a con man this bloke must be, judging by the who's who of victims in that article above.

Diane, I may be wrong, but if it was Brian Kennedy that hired them, then I don't think the money would have been paid to them out of the fund, Kennedy himself would have paid them.

I just do not know or understand how someone could cheat people out of money, especially, when it involves children. He alleged;y took money from a fund that was donated to help find a missing child and he stole that money.

Con men stealing from the fund and others like Bennett and Amaral, making as much money out of Madeleine as they possibly can, it is sick and disgusting. I hold them all beneath contempt!

Actually Rosie, Kennedy did not have to pay them himself. He may have been authorised to act on behalf of the fund, and it also may be that the Fund is not able to form contracts such as this, and it had to be done by either a company or a person. None of that precludes the Fund from actually paying the bills.

Kennedy definitely reviewed the actions of the firm, and then fired them. To do so, suggests that he held the contract, or at the least has an arrangement with the Fund.

Look at the amount that is claimed to be paid to that man. I think the Fund would be empty if they'd paid him 100%.

I thought Kennedy was paying too.............


Halligen is vermin praying on a distraught family..BSTRD !!!!

The Sun had watched just minutes earlier as he and his lover casually
smoked a cigarette on the hotel terrace before their planned exit.

We
previously spotted him in the bar, where he ordered a glass of wine for
an elderly guest, barking: "Stick that on my room - it's on me."

NO it aint on you, you useless piece of s### its on Madeleine...a defenseless child who is not sat at home playing with her brother and sister and friends....but instead sat somewhere else waiting to be found..wondering why shes been taken away from her loving family while you sit at a table in a bar drinking wine thats as been payed for from funds ment to be used to find her!

All that time he was ripping them of he obviously weren't trying to find madeleine.God that poor poor child i feel so much for her.Her family to.I don't know what i do if my child was taken away from me.I dont know what i would do if anyone i loved was taken away from me...and i wold be sooo hurt and frustrated,angry to if i was to find out people who i payed to help me find them was actually spending the money on themselves and not on helping the search.While the mccanns are heartbroken and desperately searching thinking one day soon their loved one will be back with them.They were unaware that they were being taken further and further away from madeleine.Being strung along more and more in order to feed a greedy b@stards luxury life....Sad,and a complete waste of valuable time.