UPDATE |Medical doctor among three charged in fraud probe involving ‘hundreds of millions of dollars' - MOCA

A 30-year-old medical doctor is among three people charged with allegedly defrauding “hundreds of millions of dollars” from several financial institutions, the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) says.

MOCA has charged Chloe Douett, a medical doctor from Cherry Gardens, in St Andrew, with uttering forged documents, demanding property on forged documents, conspiracy to defraud, and failure to safely store a firearm.

It said the other two were charged by the Financial Investigations Divison (FID).

They are 29-year-old Ivana Campbell, an executive assistant of Cedar Grove, Portmore, and 44-year-old Dwayne Pitter, an unemployed man of Olympic Gardens in St Andrew.

Campbell and Pitter have been charged with breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act, the Larceny Act, the Forgery Act, and the Law Reform (Fraudulent Transactions) (Special Provisions) Act, as well as conspiracy to defraud at common law.

MOCA announced the arrests on Wednesday. It said then that Pitter was arrested at his address on January 14, while the women were arrested in Montego Bay and Portmore, January 14 and 16, respectively.

In its statement Saturday, MOCA said the charges follow coordinated operations carried out between January 13 and 16 by MOCA and the FID, with support from the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, as well as the Montego Bay and Ferry police, MOCA said.

Investigators allege that the three were involved in an "elaborate and highly sophisticated" fraud scheme carried out between January 2023 and April 2024.

MOCA alleges that suspects used fraudulently obtained genuine documents, along with forged identification, to assume the identities of multiple individuals in order to bypass security and identity-verification measures at a number of financial institutions.

According to Major Basil Jarrett, director of communications at MOCA, the charges represent a "major breakthrough in a very unique fraud case" that has been under investigation for more than 18 months.

“This is one of the most elaborate, complex and brazen fraud schemes we have seen to date. The suspects relied on unprecedented levels of identity manipulation to defeat institutional safeguards and defraud legitimate financial institutions of hundreds of millions of dollars,” Jarrett said.

He added that the development underscores MOCA’s capacity to pursue complex financial crimes and thanked the FID, CTOC, and the Montego Bay and Ferry police for their support.

Follow The Gleaner on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.