Shamed socialite Marcus Sweeney has claimed CAB officers carrying guns "scared the s**t" out of him.
It comes despite the restaurateur – who a High Court judge described as being "up to his oxters" in organised crime – claiming the CAB probe into his firm over the proceeds of crime is "just a business against a business".
The Criminal Assets Bureau case against Sweeney’s EWM Property Holdings Ltd is before Mr Justice Alexander Owens in the High Court again this morning. Mr Justice Owens previously ruled on a bureau application seeking to deem Co Meath lands linked to the 45-year-old’s firm the proceeds of crime.
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The Celtic Tiger high-flier’s latest claims came in a bizarre video on TikTok called "Carrying guns in business". He said in the footage: "So I was in a car park two weeks ago to meet the guys and sign off on documents that we had all agreed on and to me it’s just a man, it’s just people. I’m not afraid of it.
"I hit his hip and on his hip was a gun. I asked him why do you guys carry guns. This man is in a suit, standing in a car park.
"He said, ‘Marcus, see that man over there, he has a gun, see the two others over there, they have guns’.
"I asked why. He said, 'Because we are meeting you'.
"I said you don’t need guns to meet me and that scared the s**t out of me because I realised I was battling the wrong fight when I’m standing doing business with people in suits and guns.
"Thank God we are in agreement but I forgot what I was dealing with and that’s the scary side of not thinking about all your angles when doing business."
He also bizarrely claimed CAB are "asking the judge to believe in them so they are bringing bad stories about Marcus to the table and I have to defend myself saying I’m a good guy."
He added: "They’re just doing their job to say that this is a man connected to crime or he’s this and that and the other. So I’m feeling yeah, I’m battling this really well, I’m prepped for two-and- a-half years from a raid to right where we are today."
Earlier this year, Mr Justice Owens said the bureau made out a "very compelling case" for him to rule there was a "high degree of probability" that a site at Waynestown was acquired by EWM with crime proceeds.
CAB alleged EWM purchased the land for €102,000 using, in part, cash from unknown sources, another investment company and an innocent investor.
The court heard allegations Sweeney had business dealings with convicted heroin dealer Brian Grendon, from major drugs gang The Family.
Sweeney previously dated Katy French, a model who died tragically from a cocaine overdose just days after her 24th birthday in December 2007.
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