Fraud accused’s true identity uncovered in $352m mortgage loan scam

Dwayne Pitter, a resident of Bay Farm Villa in St Andrew, is the person who allegedly used a fictitious name to get mortgage loans totalling $352 million from four commercial banks over a one-month period in 2024, law-enforcement authorities have charged.

The loans, all in the name ‘Odain Anthony Lawes’, were used to ‘buy’ upscale St Andrew properties that had been secretly and “fraudulently” transferred from their legitimate owners, The Sunday Gleaner reported last month, citing claims made in a lawsuit filed against one of the banks.

The alleged fraudulently obtained titles listed ‘Lawes’’ profession as a “mining and geological engineer”, and his address as “1037 Irving Drive, in Ironshore, Montego Bay, St James”, according to the National Land Agency’s (NLA) records and court documents the newspaper reviewed.

The mortgages were issued by CIBC Jamaica, $96 million; Sagicor Bank Jamaica, $96 million; National Commercial Bank, $80 million; and Victoria Mutual Building Society, $80 million, NLA records show.

The Court Administration Division (CAD) confirmed yesterday that Pitter is facing a total of 44 criminal charges in three cases that are now before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court related to the alleged fraud.

The charges include conspiracy to defraud, engaging in a transaction that involves criminal property, obtaining property by false pretence, obtaining property on forged documents, possession of criminal property, as well as breaches of the Forgery Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act, the CAD disclosed.

Court records reviewed by The Gleaner confirmed that the charge of conspiracy to defraud is related to the $96-million mortgage issued by CIBC Jamaica, ostensibly to purchase a parcel of land in the upscale Cherry Gardens community in St Andrew.

“Dwayne Pitter o/c Odain Lawes, between 1st day of October 2023 and the 4th day of March 2024 in the parish of St Andrew, conspired together with persons unknown to defraud FirstCaribbean International Bank the sum of $96,000,000 by fraudulently applying for a mortgage,” read one document.

Law-enforcement officials believe Pitter is among at least three people who allegedly used a complex and elaborate fraud scheme to defraud five financial institutions of close to $600 million.

The other two, Chloe Douett, a medical doctor who resides in Cherry Gardens, and Ivana Campbell, an executive assistant who resides in Portmore, St Catherine, are also facing criminal charges for their alleged involvement in the fraudulent scheme.

DETAILS OF FRAUD

The proprietors of Steadridge Farm Trade Limited, owner of the Cherry Gardens property Pitter ‘purchased’ with the mortgage loan, claimed in a lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court that they learnt, via a telephone call on September 24, 2024, that their land had been sold and transferred to ‘Lawes’ “by fraudulent means” on February 19 that same year.

The caller, alleged to be an attorney for CIBC Jamaica, also disclosed that a mortgage issued by CIBC for the purchase of the property was also registered on February 19, 2024, the lawsuit claims.

It claimed, too, that a new title was issued for the property – along with new folio and volume numbers – based on a surrender application that was “fraudulently” made to the Registrar of Titles.

“In fact, at all material times the proper title was with the legitimate owner’s attorney-at-law for safekeeping and there was no situation justifying a surrender application,” the lawsuit charged.

Under the Registration of Titles Act, a surrender application, or an application to surrender certificate(s) of title, is the process used to facilitate changes to a property, including a change of ownership or subdividing a lot.

The folio and volume numbers are unique, two-part identifiers assigned by the NLA to every registered parcel of land.

The Registrar of Titles has since lodged caveats on all four titles “to prevent improper dealings”, according notations made on each document.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com