A 30-year-old medical doctor is among three people charged in connection with what law enforcement authorities describe as an elaborate fraud scheme that allegedly netted hundreds of millions of dollars from several financial institutions.
The Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) said the alleged fraud is valued at “hundreds of millions of dollars,” with both The Jamaica Gleaner and Jamaica Observer reporting the figure at approximately JMD$600 million.
MOCA has charged Chloe Douett, a medical doctor of Cherry Gardens, St. Andrew, with uttering forged documents, demanding property on forged documents, conspiracy to defraud, and failure to safely store a firearm.
The other two accused — 29-year-old Ivana Campbell, an executive assistant of Cedar Grove, Portmore, St. Catherine, and 44-year-old Dwayne Pitter, an unemployed man of Olympic Gardens, St. Andrew — were charged by the Financial Investigations Division (FID). They face multiple counts under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the Larceny Act, the Forgery Act, the Law Reform (Fraudulent Transactions) (Special Provisions) Act, as well as conspiracy to defraud at common law.
MOCA announced the arrests on Wednesday, noting that Pitter was arrested at his residence on January 14, while Campbell and Douett were arrested in Portmore and Montego Bay on January 16 and January 14, respectively.
In a statement issued Saturday, MOCA said the three suspects were arrested following “a series of coordinated operations across several parishes between January 13 and 16.”
“The three suspects who were nabbed following a series of coordinated operations across several parishes between January 13 and 16, are alleged to have carried out an elaborate and highly sophisticated multimillion-dollar fraud scheme between January 2023 and April 2024, through the submission of fraudulently obtained genuine documents and fraudulent identification documents,” MOCA said.
“The three allegedly assumed the identities of multiple individuals with varying occupations to bypass security protocols and identity confirmation measures at a number of institutions in the financial sector,” the agency added.
MOCA said the operations were conducted jointly with the FID, with support from the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch, as well as the Montego Bay and Ferry police. A motor vehicle was reportedly seized during the operations.
According to Major Basil Jarrett, MOCA’s director of communications, the arrests 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.
Jarrett added that the development underscores MOCA’s capacity to pursue complex financial crimes.
“These arrests mark a significant breakthrough in the investigation and are the result of sustained intelligence work and careful financial analysis by MOCA, the FID, and our partners,” he said.
He also cautioned that the investigation remains active.
“Financial crime networks and activities of this nature and magnitude are rarely limited to a single set of actors,” Jarrett said. “Notwithstanding these arrests and charges, the investigation continues and remains dynamic and fluid.”
