The three- to six-month trial of three senior executives at the bank that almost bankrupted Ireland starts this week. About 350 people volunteered to serve on the jury, giving a sense of interest in the case.

The Guardian reports:

It will be one of the most complex and controversial trials in the history of European financial crime, with hundreds of witnesses, millions of documents and a trio regarded as national hate figures in Ireland.

Three leading figures in the now defunct and disgraced Anglo Irish Bank – Sean FitzPatrick, Pat Whelan and William McAteer – will each face 16 charges of unlawfully providing financial assistance to individuals for the purpose of buying shares in Anglo Irish Bank in 2008.

All of the charges relate to a specific person who allegedly received financial assistance between 10 July and 17 July 2008. The trio of former top bankers deny all the charges against them.

Read more here.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

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