Convicted of tax offences in 2008 and of theft and fraud in 2020, in early 2022, RTÉ Investigates reported that Carey was connected to fraudulent business practices.
[6] In 2020, Catriona Carey was convicted of fraud and theft, after forging a cheque to make it payable to her, rather than the payee intended by the business that hired her as an accountant.
[4][5] The RTÉ report referred to an "elaborate scam" and noted that the Gardaí had received several complaints about Carey and her company, Careysfort Asset Estates.
[5][15] An article in the Irish Independent, which described Carey as a "convicted swindler", suggested that the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) had received at least 30 such complaints by late February 2022.
[19][20] She was also sued by Bank of Ireland for reputed outstanding debts and,[21] after "defaulting on her mortgage payments for nearly 10 years", Carey's own home was repossessed in November 2022.
[30] Later that week, on Friday 7 February 2025, Carey faced multiple charges (arising from the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau investigation) for money laundering.