The O’Halloran family in happier times with Isabella, Tara, Ben, Scarlett, Richard and Amber all together It is fundamentally wrong on many levels, said David Maughan, partner with law firm William Fry, which acts for O Halloran. The acting directors of the Dublin firm, CALS, of which O Halloran is also a director, sent $200,000 (€165,000) to the Chinese court in a good-faith gesture as part of a proposal to the Chinese to allow the Irishman return home. O Halloran was subsequently subjected to a six-hour interrogation by Chinese police, without a lawyer, as to the source of the money. It was a phenomenally scary piece of interrogation. During it they demanded he pay $6m personally to the court in order to assist with his freedom, said Maughan.