Orders freezing Claddagh Rings' brother's assets are extended by High Court

Irish Times

23-05-2025

A co-owner of the company at the centre of the long-running Claddagh Rings business dispute has had High Court orders restraining him from reducing his and his family's assets below €969,000 pending determination of a dispute over ownership of a villa in Spain extended.
Mr Justice Brian Cregan earlier this month granted interim orders freezing the assets of Andrew Fried, his wife Felicity Fried, their children Isabella and Ruben, and a Spanish company, Villas Adelfa SL.
Philip Fried, a shareholder with Andrew in Claddagh Jewellers Ltd, had brought the proceedings over what the court heard was 'a new front' in a long-running dispute between the brothers – a row over ownership of a Spanish villa called Villa la Joya in Benalmadena, Malaga, worth €969,000.
The brothers had settled a High Court dispute over the Claddagh business in December 2020.
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As part of that settlement, Philip Fried said, the parties agreed to transfer to their mother, Janis, ownership of Villa la Joya where the brothers' parents had lived since 1975. The Spanish firm, Villas Adelfa, owned the property with the two brothers each holding half the shares in the company.
It subsequently emerged that Andrew Fried, unbeknown to his brother or other parties to the settlement, had unlawfully transferred in June 2020 his shares in the company to his two minor children, Isabella and Ruben. This purportedly prevented the transfer of the property to their mother, Philip Fried said in an affidavit.
Separately, eviction proceedings, at the behest of Andrew Fried, were issued in Spain requiring their parents to leave the villa, it was claimed. A Spanish judge dismissed the application last September and made explicit reference to the December 2020 settlement agreement.
An appeal has been lodged against that decision in Spain.
The asset-freezing application was brought by Philip Fried, along with his parents Janis and Laszlo Fried, Claddagh Jewellers Ltd, Claddagh Ring Ltd and Irony Galway Properties Unlimited Co.
On Friday, Jarlath Ryan SC, for Philip Fried, said there had been no response or meaningful response to the interim orders from Andrew Fried and counsel was now seeking a suite of orders that should remain in place pending trial of the full action.
Counsel said Felicity Fried had been in touch to say she did not hold any shares in the Spanish company and was willing to undertake not to evict the Fried parents.
However, counsel said this did not go far enough because Mrs Fried is the guardian of the children to whom the shares in the Spanish company had been transferred which means she could transfer the shares if she wanted.
Mr Justice Cregan said he was satisfied to grant the orders sought by Mr Ryan pending trial of the full case.
He continued the order restraining the defendants from reducing their assets below €969,000. He also ordered that the assets in the Fried companies should not be reduced in accordance with the 2020 settlement.
He further restrained, pending further order, the transfer of company assets, including assets held on trust for the defendants' minor children.
He ordered the defendants to disclose to the plaintiffs all worldwide bank accounts in which they have a beneficial or legal interest.