Doctor admits role in $600m mortgage fraud scheme

A St Andrew medical doctor has pleaded guilty to her role in an elaborate fraud scheme that allegedly duped several Jamaican banks out of approximately $600 million through bogus mortgage and real estate transactions.

Chloe Douett, 30, of Cherry Gardens, was convicted in the St Catherine Circuit Court on July 24 after pleading guilty to an eight-count indictment, the Court Administration Division (CAD) confirmed to The STAR.

Seven of the charges relate to the multimillion-dollar fraud scheme, while the eighth concerns her licensed firearm.

The fraud-related convictions are for:

Conspiracy to defraud

Two counts of uttering forged documents

Demanding property on forged documents

Possession of identity information

Obtaining property by false pretence

Use of criminal property

Douett was also convicted of breach of duty to securely store a firearm and ammunition.

She is one of four people arrested and charged in January following a multi-agency investigation led by the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA), with assistance from the Financial Investigations Division.

Investigators previously alleged that the scheme operated for about 14 months, beginning in January 2023, and involved the creation of forged driver's licences, birth certificates, marriage certificates and taxpayer registration numbers using dozens of fictitious identities.

According to investigators, the alleged fraudsters then used the fake documents to target upscale properties in St Andrew.

The alleged scheme involved applying to the National Land Agency (NLA) for replacement titles, claiming that the legitimate titles had been lost or damaged.

Once replacement titles were obtained, investigators alleged that the properties were fraudulently sold by persons posing as the legitimate owners to accomplices through mortgage loans from unsuspecting financial institutions.

In one case, Dwayne Pitter, one of the remaining accused, allegedly used the fictitious identity ‘Odain Anthony Lawes’ to obtain approximately $352 million in mortgage loans from four banks within a single month in 2024.

The loans were reportedly used to ‘purchase’ properties in several affluent St Andrew communities.

NLA records reportedly identified Pitter, who is from Olympic Gardens, as an engineer residing at an address in Ironshore, Montego Bay, St James, on the mortgage transactions.

Pitter is facing 44 criminal charges across three cases connected to the alleged fraud scheme.

The CAD has not yet provided an update on the status of the cases involving the other three accused.

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