[6] The money raised was held in bank accounts in Ireland and the United States controlled by three trustees: Éamon de Valera, President of Dáil Éireann; Michael Fogarty, the Catholic Bishop of Killaloe; and James O'Mara.
[8] On 27 March 1920, Alan Bell, a resident magistrate investigating bank accounts linked to the Dáil, was taken from a tram and shot by Collins' IRA "Squad".
[16] Noonan felt the Free State should control the funds and redeem them; Hearn argued they should preferably go to Sinn Féin as leaders of the rump Irish Republic, or failing that be returned to subscribers.
In 1927, the Supreme Court of New York ruled against Noonan, on the basis that the Free State was successor to the United Kingdom but not to the Irish Republic; it further ruled that the funds should be returned to subscribers, as "the purpose for which the moneys were subscribed by the so-called bondholders, that is, the establishment of a Republic of Ireland free and independent of any allegiance to Great Britain, was never accomplished".
[17] De Valera, now leader of the opposition Fianna Fáil party, urged his American supporters to use their refunds to invest in The Irish Press newspaper.
The Executive Council refused to allow the trustees to implement the New York court decision until after the 1932 general election, when the first Fianna Fáil government took office.