Three priests set up failed business called Shag

Two Irish priests accused of misappropriating millions from a Florida church had formed a mortgage company with another priest called Shag Inc.

Fr John Skehan (80), originally from Johnstown, Kilkenny, and Fr Francis Guinan (64), originally from Birr, Co Offaly, are accused in relation to $8.6m missing from church coffers.

The two men are accused of using offertory dollars to keep girlfriends, take gambling excursions and foreign holidays, and buy property.

It has emerged the two pensioners invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in Shag Inc, a failed mortgage loan scheme. Records show it was formed in 1984 and dissolved a decade later.

The third priest has been named as Michael Hickey, a priest assigned to several parishes in Florida, who had a long history of drink driving.

Shag appears to be an acronym made up of the first letter of the pensioners' last names: Skehan, Hickey and Guinan