Manchester businesswoman ordered to forfeit $100M in properties to the State

The Supreme Court has ordered that over $100 million in properties owned by a Manchester businesswoman, her sister and son be forfeited to the State.

The properties include five parcels of land spread across four parishes and measuring over 600 acres, which Eva Mae Sterling, 61; her sister, Marline Ledford; and son, Nicholaus Chang, purchased between 2012 and 2014 for approximately $105 million, the Financial Investigations Division (FID) disclosed today.

Sterling and Chang were joint owners of one parcel of land in St Elizabeth, while Ledford was listed as the sole owner of another plot of land in the parish.

The Manchester businesswoman was the sole owner of a parcel of land in Clarendon, while Ledford was also listed as the owner of two other properties in St Catherine and St Mary.

The order was made in the Supreme Court on June 13, the FID said.

“The Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) aims to deter the occurrence of financial crimes by ensuring that those who are found guilty of breaching the act lose the benefits of their criminal activities,” Director of Legal Services at the FID, Courtney Smith, said in a public statement today.

Sterling pleaded guilty in the Corporate Area Criminal Court last month to two counts of engaging in a transaction involving criminal property, an offence under the POCA legislation.

She was fined $300,000 or nine months imprisonment on one count and 12 months in prison suspended for two years on the second count.

Similar charges were discontinued against Ledford and Chang following Sterling's plea deal.

- Livern Barrett

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