Patrick Rocca, 'poster boy' of Ireland's Celtic Tiger, kills himself

Mr Rocca’s death came on the day that a High Court judge was picking through the debris of the vast pyramid scheme allegedly run by another Dublin socialite before deciding to refer it to the Garda fraud squad. Breifne O’Brien, a star in Dublin's party scene, is said to have conned friends out of tens of millions to fund an extravagant lifestyle. The crash in the Irish property market allegedly affected his sources of finance, so that he was no longer able to keep up the pretence of being a gifted investor.