He was once the poster boy of the Celtic Tiger, lending billions to bankroll the property boom in Ireland and the UK. But today it took just 12 minutes for the high court in Dublin to declare Sean Fitzpatrick, former chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank, bankrupt.
The ruling comes less than two years after Fitzpatrick resigned from the bank amid a scandal involving loans totalling almost €90m (£75m).
He was accused of using the Anglo Irish as a personal piggy bank to fund a string of investments including shares in the bank, a casino in Macau and an oil project in Nigeria.
Anglo Irish has since been nationalised but remains at the heart of bitter controversy in Ireland as to whether the government was right to bail out such a toxic bank. Most of its customers were developers who were unlikely to repay their loans.
Last month the bank's new chief executive Mike Aynsley revealed that the "lion's share" of a €22bn government bailout would not be "recoverable", adding to calls for the resignation of the Irish taoiseach Brian Cowen.
Fitzpatrick's lawyers, who applied to the high court for bankruptcy, told the court today that he was "bowing to the inevitable" after failing to secure the support of his creditors.
He chose to opt for bankruptcy after Anglo Irish, the largest creditor, refused to back a deal in which he offered them everything including his home in county Wicklow.
Fitzpatrick was not the most indebted of the Celtic Tiger high-flyers, but he is seen as emblematic of the rise and fall of Ireland's nouveau riche.
The smooth-talking dealmaker, known as "Seanie", was the property developers' favourite banker and toast of Dublin's social circuit. He was the man with the Midas touch and oversaw an incredible but ultimately unsustainable growth at the bank which saw profits rise 60,000% in just 20 years – from under €42m in 1987 to €1.2bn in 2007.
His incredible success earned him a seat on the boards of Aer Lingus, printing firm Smurfit and Gartmore but when Anglo Irish got into difficulties, the bank's position quickly unravelled, and with it Fitzpatrick's career.
In March he was arrested for questioning as part of an investigation by Irish fraud police relating to alleged financial irregularities. He was released without charge.
Under the draconian Irish system, Fitzpatrick will remain bankrupt for 12 years unless he can clear his debts in the meantime. He will not be able to borrow more than €650 without declaring he is bankrupt, and all assets and properties owned by him will be controlled by a court-appointed official.
Before going to court, Fitzpatrick offered his creditors a deal including his family home. He said he had nothing to live on but his wife's pension and accepted that he was the architect of his "own ruin". His decision to file for bankruptcy in Ireland is being seen by some commentators as evidence that he is prepared to face the music: had he chosen to file proceedings in the UK, he could have been out of the woods in a year.
However, he is likely to remain a hate figure for years to come, particularly because of a radio interview weeks before his resignation in which he accused the presenter of not understanding the basics of business when he was challenged about the future of the bank.
The Evening Herald in Dublin tonight dubbed Fitzpatrick "always the smuggest and most arrogant of our bankers". It added: "Seanie's been exposed for the charlatan that he always was."