Disbarred lawyer scams granny

The luxurious retirement that Murdell Chambers was looking forward to will not come to pass, as the 75-year-old claims that she was defrauded out of $6.3 million by a lawyer who was helping with the sale of her land in Hanover.

According to Chambers, half acre of land in Canaan, Hanover, has been in her family for generations, but she was OK with selling it. However, she is yet to receive payment for the sale of the land, and she is convinced that she was scammed by the lawyer.

“I was born and raised on that property. That was my pension money that I was looking forward to for years, and now I have lost everything. I lost my land, and I lost the money. I have nothing. I am 75 years old, and that money was my retirement money. What else do I have to hold on to now?,” she asked.

Chambers explained that early last year, she made the decision to sell the land and was introduced to a lawyer through her brother-in-law. She said the land was viewed by a potential buyer and arrangements were made for the property to be sold. Even though she was not on the island, she said that she was kept abreast of the proceedings through emails from the lawyer, who THE STAR learnt was disbarred last September.

TRANSFER THE FUNDS

“The land was sold for $6.3 million, and the lawyer told me that when he got the money, he will transfer the funds to me. The contract was done and the documents sent to me to be signed. My brother-in-law said that I did not need to come to the country after the purchase, but I said I wanted to, so I could welcome the new owner to the land,” she said.

She said that the lawyer emailed her and asked her for her banking information so that the money could be sent to her. She said that they were even in dialogue up to last October, which was after he was disbarred. Two weeks after sharing her banking information, Chambers said that she did not get the money.

“I did not get any money, and I came to Jamaica and found him and told him that I needed my money. That is when he told me that he sent the money to me through another account that I had emailed to him,” she said.

However, Chambers insists that she did not tell the lawyer about another account, and she thinks that he concocted a scheme to get her money.

Emails obtained by THE STAR revealed that Chambers and the lawyer were in fact discussing the money.

However, there was also another set of emails, which Chambers denies being party to. In those emails, an individual was complaining that the bank withheld the money. The lawyer was also being asked to clear things up with the bank. In the same set of emails, the lawyer advised that the matter was out of his hands, and his bank was unable to do anything further.

Chambers’ son, Ainsley Watson, told THE STAR that he is confident his mother did not send any other account information to the lawyer and that she was defrauded of her land and money.

He told THE STAR that a report was made to the Fraud Squad in January, but they are yet to get any information on the matter.